Armenia should aspire to develop industrial capacity in the integration of robotics and artificial intelligence, or create the environment needed to attract investment in this area. Developing the relevant scientific expertise and professional skills is a prerequisite.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said this at the government meeting on 5 November during a discussion of the Physical Artificial Intelligence programme.

The prime minister said that, in the next stage of AI development, people would increasingly interact with it in the physical world through robots and other devices.

“While we currently communicate with artificial intelligence in a virtual space for a specific purpose, the next generation, the next development, will involve interacting with artificial intelligence in the real world. In future, we will face a robot with a specific appearance, shape and body, and, depending on its functions, arms and legs. Science is now working to bring about this transformation and this encounter,” Pashinyan said.

He said these developments should also be considered in the context of Armenia’s economic industrialisation goals.

“I think we should at least aspire to have industrial capacity in this field in the Republic of Armenia, or be able to create a suitable environment for such capacity and investment. Here, of course, we are talking first and foremost about developing professional skills. The initiative we are adopting is aimed specifically at building scientific expertise and professional capacity in this area,” the prime minister stressed.

Pashinyan said that, alongside developing expertise in educational institutions, there were plans to develop laboratories to explore opportunities for integrating artificial intelligence with physical objects.

The prime minister said the long-term goal was to make Armenia an attractive destination for investment in the sector. He believed a significant share of industrial investment in the near future would be linked to this field.

“We have considerable expertise in this field within the diaspora, with people who are also ready and keen to see this sector and area develop in Armenia. We are now taking this decision so that we can open up opportunities for such developments, starting at the educational level,” Pashinyan said.