BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 25. Azerbaijan is making significant strides in digitalization and technology adoption, Oracle Senior Vice President of Technology Engineering for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Jason Rees said on Friday at the 2nd Azerbaijan International Investment Forum in Baku, Trend's correspondent reports from the event.
"If we are building an intelligent economy, obviously we need computing power. But computing power alone is not enough. Of course, we need infrastructure, data centers, GPUs and so on. But ultimately, we also need reliable data, analytics and an understanding of the business context," Rees said.
He noted that artificial intelligence is changing approaches to work in both the public and private sectors, as well as in sports.
"AI is absolutely changing the way we look at things," he said.
According to Rees, effective use of AI requires not only infrastructure and data, but also the appropriate platforms and applications.
He noted that Oracle views AI as a technology that should be applied at every level of the technology infrastructure.
"We believe AI should be embedded, not added later. This is extremely important because AI should be in the hands of people so that they can benefit from it, rather than just using the infrastructure," Rees said.
Rees also stressed the importance of digital sovereignty.
"Data, reliable data, is at the core of Oracle's operations. I think it is important for Azerbaijan and other partners to understand that data is also the foundation of AI," he said.
According to him, it is necessary to ensure the security of data within an organization, as well as the security of the models used to work with that data.
"Within your organization, when using AI, you need to be able to use both your private data and publicly available data," Rees said.
The second Azerbaijan International Investment Forum is being held in Baku.
The two-day forum is organized by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Economy and its subordinate Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Agency (AZPROMO), in strategic partnership with European House – Ambrosetti.
Plenary and panel sessions at the event will address strategic issues including the Middle Corridor, energy and the green transition, artificial intelligence and digital transformation, infrastructure, industry and free economic zones, critical raw materials, agribusiness, financial cooperation, small and medium-sized business development, tourism, real estate and investment in human capital.
