Azerbaijan’s newfound orientation towards Artificial Intelligence and Robots
By: Caucasus-Asia Center
Tags: Caucasus, Artificial Intelligence, Azerbaijan, Frontier Markets, International Relations

Introduction

Until recently, ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (A.I.) was held as synonymous with Sci-Fi (science fiction) movies directed by Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick. Today, however, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are getting widely applied in different sectors in the global markets, thus revolutionizing the efficiency and effectiveness of the operations performed.

Futuristic Artificial Intelligence

It is apparent that even today there is no universally-agreed definition of AI.[i] For the purposes of this paper, ‘AI’ is defined as “the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.”[ii] Although AI and robotics are two separate fields, they are increasingly getting bound together.[iii] In the foreseeable future, both military and commercial robots will incorporate AI, making them artificially intelligent robots capable of undertaking tasks and missions on their own.[iv]

Currently, within the international community, discussions are happening about the challenges associated with the use of AI technologies in the military, its legal and ethical implications. Serious concerns have been raised over the legality of fully autonomous weapons, also known as ‘killer robots’, that are capable of selecting and engaging their targets without meaningful human control, often calling for a complete ban of such robots.[v] AI weapons and their use in modern warfare, as well as legal regulation of such weapons (within the legal framework of international humanitarian law), present highly complex challenges for lawyers, the military and for society itself among others.

On the other hand, AI’s potential to reform the way both the public and the private sectors operate create new opportunities that states may capitalize on. AI technologies are currently used to provide fraud alerts for banking applications and to help improve health diagnostics. Other sectors where such technologies are increasingly used include law enforcement, judicial decision-making, border security, and as was mentioned above, the military.[vi] As is often the case, the world is divided into countries that are better placed to potentially gain from emerging AI technologies and those that “could be left behind by the so-called fourth industrial revolution.”[vii]

Government AI Readiness Index and Azerbaijan

According to the PwC’s 2017 ‘Sizing the prize’ report, AI’s potential contribution to the global economy by 2030 will amount to USD 15.7 trillion (i.e. up to 14%), “making it the biggest commercial opportunity in today’s fast changing economy.”[viii] The report’s findings also forecast up to 26% boost in GDP for local economies from AI by the year of 2030, with the biggest sector gains in retail, financial services and healthcare, as AI “increases productivity, product quality and consumption.”[ix]

In 2017, Oxford Insights created the world’s first ‘Government AI Readiness Index’, with the purpose of answering the question on how well the national governments are placed to take advantage of the benefits of AI in their operations and delivery of public services.[x] This report, however, was limited to the member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

A further report by Oxford Insights was produced in 2019, in which the data on the preparedness to use AI in the delivery of public services covered all the United Nations (UN) countries.[xi] According to the findings of the report, the governments of countries in the Global North are better placed to reap the potential benefits of AI in comparison to those in the Global South, a trend which widens the already existing situation regarding global inequalities.[xii] Simply put, governments and citizens of the higher income countries are better positioned to capitalize on a unique opportunity “to improve the governments of the future, and citizens’ experience of government” offered by emerging technologies.[xiii] The purpose of the report, however, was ‘not to create or fuel a global race for AI’, but rather encourage all governments across the world “to be as better prepared as possible to help their citizens take advantage of the benefits of automation, while protecting them from its associated risks.”[xiv]

Azerbaijan and the rest of the South Caucasus countries, namely Georgia and Armenia, are placed in the ‘Eastern Europe’ group of countries. In the report, that covers 23 countries across the region of Eastern Europe, Azerbaijan is ranked 64th and with a score of 5.244. The score was calculated based on input metrics, including governance, infrastructure and data, skills and education, and government and public services. Georgia and Armenia are ranked 76th and 81st respectively. The region’s overall average score is 5.52 (the global average is 4.03).[xv] Among strengths of the Eastern Europe countries that score high within the ranking are “good data capability in government, technology skills among general population, and private sectors capable of innovation.”[xvi] “The lack of an adequate innovation ecosystem to nurture AI skills and advanced technologies” is cited as one of the major reasons for countries’ lower rankings, especially in the regions of the South Caucasus and the Western Balkans.[xvii] There is an approval on behalf of these governments regarding using data and incorporating Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into policies and public services. On the other hand, stagnant economic growth and brain drain, caused by high emigration of the skilled labor force, are the main challenges towards nurturing an AI-friendly innovation ecosystem. Nevertheless, the countries of the aforementioned regions are “joining forces and working together on national action plans to incorporate advanced technologies in government operations.”[xviii]

AI in Azerbaijan:

‘Sophia’s visit to Azerbaijan

“AI Has Arrived in Azerbaijan” and similar headlines were making the news in late October 2018, when the AI robot ‘Sophia’ made an unexpected stop in the South Caucasus’ Azerbaijan during her worldwide tour.[xix] In fact, “the world’s first ever visa granting to a robot” and later her conversation with the country’s President received not only coverage within the country, but also internationally.[xx]

SOPHIA Robot in Azerbaijan, and meeting with President ILHAM ALIYEV 2018 (Video courtesy: İMİŞLİ TV)

Sophia was invited and granted a visa thanks to Azerbaijan Service and Assessment Network (ASAN xidmet).[xxi] ‘ASAN’, translated into English as ‘easy’, is a government agency with a network of one-stop centers for delivering services to the public, making the citizens’ lives much easier by reducing the bureaucracy. To date, 13 ASAN service centres operate in the country and employ a one-stop-shop principle, where government entities and private companies provide 300 services.[xxii] ASAN has taken over all the country’s e-government initiatives and was the 2015 UN Public Service Award winner.[xxiii] European governments also praised ASAN’s efficiency and possible applicability in other countries, including Afghanistan.[xxiv] A member of a European think tank, aimed at ensuring that AI becomes a positive force for mankind and not a threat, highlighted that “it’s unusual for a government agency to take the lead in delivering electronic services, but it’s vital for governments to keep ahead of the curve. Most of electronics and cyber trailblazers are in the private sector, not the government, so I salute ASAN.”[xxv]

Sophia’s visit to Azerbaijan, where she was invited to participate in Global Influencer Day (an event bringing together influencer marketing industry’s experts from across the globe) lasted a few days and underscored the importance of ASAN in harnessing the electronic and cyber worlds to improve the lives of citizens and the advancing abilities of AI robots.[xxvi]

AI and Azerbaijan’s oil and gas industry

Aliya: maximizing oil and gas reservoir production

In May 2019, it was announced about The Caspian Innovation Centre (CIC), an AI-enabled well planning prototype, jointly created by The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and IBM (NYSE: IBM).[xxvii] The advanced well planning tool, called Aliya, “applies engineering principles, well planning methodologies and practices to large, complex data sets to quickly and efficiently enable engineers to create multiple conceptual well designs including cost evaluations, scheduling, KPI (Key Performance Indicator) planning and measurement and risk profiling.”[xxviii] Based on data received from previously drilled wells, Aliya will be able to perform complex analytical operations within seconds — something that a human would take a month to complete. The uniqueness of this technology is that it applies AI-based analytics at the well planning stage.[xxix] The Vice President for field development at SOCAR stated that “this represents a small step that triggers a giant opportunity to radically improve well planning and managing data in the industry.”[xxx]

Currently, a number of projects in the digitalization of SOCAR’s upstream, midstream and downstream operations are being developed with the CIC. Moreover, it was announced about SOCAR and IBM’s plans to jointly launch an ‘Innovation Garage’ “to extend AI technology across subsurface wells, upstream operation, PSCM (Procurement and Supply Chain Management) and other applicable areas.”[xxxi]

BP, AI and ACG

Earlier in February 2019, an article was published in The Telegraph about the challenges the oil major BP is facing with regard to its production at Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG), the largest oilfield in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. The following was stated by BP’s Head of Technology: “We have huge production in Azerbaijan of wells that are quite prone to producing sand, and sand if it’s produced in high quantities from our oil wells can do damage to the metalwork and also choke back the production.”[xxxii] With having only one engineer with the relevant skills (i.e. to reduce sand in oil production at ACG), the oil giant is facing risks while depending on a single expert. To overcome the associated risks, the energy giant is working towards harnessing the expert’s knowledge by ‘codifying’ it into a system built by a US-based AI company, which in turn can help BP locate reservoirs that are less prone to sand. In addition, it offers “great precision in drilling and dial in data on how much oil is flowing into its wells.”[xxxiii]

The aforementioned article highlighted that “few sectors stand to benefit from its [AI] capabilities as much as oil and gas”.[xxxiv] Therefore, given Azerbaijan’s heavy dependency on exports of fuel commodities (e.g. oil, natural gas) the country is extremely incentivized to maximize the use of AI in the energy industry.[xxxv]

AI and other sectors

The consumer goods sector: A major Azerbaijani group of companies providing the highest-level services and one of the largest group of companies in Eastern Europe is currently exploring the AI, big data, and information security capabilities of Microsoft Azure, a cloud computing service for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications and services through Microsoft-managed data centers. It should be noted that the Group’s cloud migration unlocked 20% savings in hardware expenses and benefited it in various other ways.[xxxvi]

The education sector: According to the Chief Manager of Microsoft Azerbaijan, currently the main task facing the company is to teach AI the Azerbaijani language. Whilst answering questions about the AI Strategy developed by the company for Azerbaijan, he said: “If we can submit at least three million sentences in the Azerbaijani language that are equivalent to English to Microsoft, the company will teach the Azerbaijani language to AI. It means that any educational institution, business structure, and government agency will be able to use AI. Imagine that you have an archive with a wealth of documents. AI, provided that it knows the Azerbaijani language, will be able to scan and read them.”[xxxvii] The Chief Manager also mentioned that the project was already launched with Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Education. He also pointed out that without knowing the language of a country, the use of AI will be limited to numbers only and that “at the next stages, speech recognition or the application of AI in more serious areas can be considered.”[xxxviii]

The transportation sector: In September 2019, it was announced that the country’s largest airline, Azerbaijan Airlines, also known as AZAL, signed a partnership with OpenAirlines to use its solution SkyBreathe Fuel Efficiency. SkyBreathe will help AZAL to monitor and improve fuel efficiency while contributing to environmental protection by reducing emissions. It will do so by using Big Data Algorithms, AI, and Machine Learning.[xxxix] It is a very timely move as “there is an important pressure on airlines to increase profitability while reducing their carbon impact.”[xl] It should be noted that Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport, the largest in the country and the region in terms of passenger and freight traffic, takeoff and landing operation, capacity of the cargo complex, etc., “became the first and only airport to fully switch to cloud technologies.”[xli]

AI and human rights

As was mentioned earlier in this paper, AI presents a variety of challenges. However, this applies not only to the area of International Humanitarian Law, but also to International Human Rights Law (IHRL). The challenges associated with AI can “profoundly affect the respect and protection of human rights.”[xlii] Therefore, while the issue of ethics and “a profusion of initiatives” aimed at establishing ethical frameworks for the design and implementation of AI solutions is important, IHRL is crucial in this field. “The private sector, including technology companies, can build on the existing UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights[xliii] to guide the development of new technological advances in AI.”[xliv]

There is also the ongoing ‘Modernization of Sustainability and Efficiency of ICT infrastructure and ICT services in the Republic of Azerbaijan’ project jointly being implemented by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies.[xlv] The specific project objectives among others include “Evolving of High Technologies via AI, Cloud Technologies, Robopark and human capital by envisioning potential opportunities in the National Strategy on High Technologies of Azerbaijan for 2020–2025.”[xlvi] The project is expected to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, aimed at poverty eradication, and 9, aimed at building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation.[xlvii]

The Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies established an Innovation Agency in 2018, with the purpose to “promote the production of innovative and high-tech products and the provision of services under the ‘Made in Azerbaijan’ brand, as well as to create conditions for existing local brands to enter the international arena, to identify products and services for digital transformation, to support intellectual solutions on robotic and cloud technologies, large-scale data processing and artificial intelligence.”[xlviii]

In November 2019, for the first time, an international conference was held in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku on the topic of ‘AI and human rights.’ Foreign experience regarding the use of AI and information technology (IT) in the judicial sector was central to the conference.[xlix]

Earlier that year, at a high-level conference on the topic of ‘Impacts of artificial intelligence on human rights, democracy and the rule of law’, which was held in Helsinki, Finland, the Head of Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan raised the issue before the panelists as to “the possibility of involving AI to the investigation of criminal cases, especially crimes against peace and humanity.”[l]

On 11–12 August 2020, The Academics World 874th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing (ICAISC) is due to be held in Baku. The Conference will provide “the premier interdisciplinary forum for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns, practical challenges encountered, and the solutions adopted in the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing.”[li]

Advances in AI will continue to develop at a rapid pace in the foreseeable future. While entering the age of automation, governments must ensure their readiness to capitalize on the potential power of AI and Azerbaijan is no exception. However, any development of AI should be accompanied with great caution and due care for ethics and safety. Otherwise, AI in public services “could be at least ineffective, and at worst, very dangerous.”[lii] This is also true for areas other than public services.

As Sophia said: “Azerbaijan is a young country with great potential for becoming a regional innovation center, and due to its location — the most advantageous property of Azerbaijan along with its resources — the country can even unite various technology markets from Asia to Europe (e.g. the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Europe, Russia, and Central Asia) and vice versa. To do this, you need to create an innovation ecosystem and enhance the relationship between key stakeholders. They are innovators, entrepreneurs, engineers, investors and the government.”[liii]

In conclusion, Azerbaijan has an opportunity to emerge as a world leader in the field of advanced technologies. The government is steering the fourth industrial revolution in the country, adopting robotics and artificial intelligence to disrupt the fossil fuel-dominated economy and leapfrog it into a digital cashless economy. However, it faces the challenges of exhibiting integrity through its tech actions and adhering to global security and technology standards.

Author : Vahid Aliyev is a Fellow with the Caucasus-Asia Center.

References

[i] Ana Beduschi, ‘Human Rights and the Governance of Artificial Intelligence’ (February 2020) Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights https://www.geneva-academy.ch/joomlatools-files/docman-files/Human%20Rights%20and%20the%20Governance%20of%20Artificial%20Intelligence.pdf accessed 10 May 2020

[ii] https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/artificial_intelligence

[iii] Hriday Ch. Sarma, ‘Turning the International North-South Corridor into a “Digital Corridor”’ (2018) Comparative Politics Russia, №4,134

[iv] Mary L. Cummings, ‘Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Warfare’ (January 2017) Chatham House https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/publications/research/2017-01-26-artificial-intelligence-future-warfare-cummings-final.pdf accessed 10 May 2020

[v] ‘Mind the Gap: The Lack of Accountability for Killer Robots’ (April 2015) Human Rights Watch (HRW) https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/04/09/mind-gap/lack-accountability-killer-robots accessed 10 May 2020

[vi] Beduschi (n 1)

[vii] Hannah Miller and Richard Stirling, ‘Government Artificial Intelligence Readiness Index 2019’ (2019) Oxford Insights https://ai4d.ai/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ai-gov-readiness-report_v08.pdf accessed 10 May 2020

[viii] Anand S. Rao and Gerard Verweij, ‘Sizing the prize: What’s the real value of AI for your business and how can you capitalize?’ (2017) PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/analytics/assets/pwc-ai-analysis-sizing-the-prize-report.pdf accessed 10 May 2020

[ix] ibid.

[x] Richard Stirling, Hannah Miller and Emma Martinho-Truswell, ‘Government Artificial Intelligence Readiness Index 2017’ (2017) Oxford Insights https://www.oxfordinsights.com/government-ai-readiness-index/ accessed 10 May 2020

[xi] Miller and Stirling (n 7)

[xii] ibid.

[xiii] ibid.

[xiv] ibid.

[xv] ibid.

[xvi] ibid.

[xvii] ibid.

[xviii] ibid.

[xix] Mushvig Mehdiyev, ‘AI Has Arrived in Azerbaijan’ (Caspian News, 26 October 2018) https://caspiannews.com/news-detail/ai-has-arrived-in-azerbaijan-2018-10-25-34/ accessed 12 May 2020

[xx] Paul Armstrong, ‘AI Humanoid ‘Sophia’ Is Granted First Ever Robot Visa, Speaks With President’ Forbes (27 October 2018) https://www.forbes.com/sites/paularmstrongtech/2018/10/27/ai-humanoid-sophia-is-granted-first-ever-robot-visa-speaks-with-president/#77ab1af71f39; Harry Pettit, ‘Creepy AI humanoid Sophia is granted the world’s first robot VISA as she embarks on a world tour’ (MailOnline, 29 October 2018) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6328455/Creepy-AI-humanoid-Sophia-granted-worlds-robot-VISA-embarks-world-tour.html accessed 12 May 2020

[xxi] ‘Azerbaijani Service and Assessment Network (ASAN) (Centre for Public Impact (CPI), 15 April, 2016) https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/case-study/azerbaijani-service-and-assessment-network-asan/

[xxii] Mehdiyev (n 19)

[xxiii] Armstrong (n 20)

[xxiv] Mehdiyev (n 19)

[xxv] Armstrong (n 20)

[xxvi] Mehdiyev (n 19) and Armstrong (n 20)

[xxvii] ‘SOCAR and IBM create and AI-enabled well planning tool’ (SOCAR, 31 May 2019) http://www.socar.az/socar/en/news-and-media/news-archives/news-archives/id/11327 accessed 12 May 2020

[xxviii] ibid.

[xxix] ibid.

[xxx] ibid.

[xxxi] ibid.

[xxxii] Hasan Chowdhury, ‘How Artificial Intelligence Is Shaking Up The Oil & Gas Industry’ The Telegraph (21 February 2019) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2019/02/21/artificial-intelligence-shaking-oil-gas-industry/ accessed 12 May 2020

[xxxiii] ibid.

[xxxiv] ibid.

[xxxv] Rosamond Hutt, ‘Which economies are most reliant on oil?’ (World Economic Forum, 10 May 2016) https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/05/which-economies-are-most-reliant-on-oil/ accessed 13 May 2020

[xxxvi] ‘Azerbaijani trade and production group of companies leaps into the cloud to speed up businesses’ (Microsoft, 26 February 2020) https://customers.microsoft.com/en-GB/story/788052-veyseloglu-group-retail-azure-microsoft365-azerbaijan accessed 13 May 2020

[xxxvii] Tural Ibadli, ‘Artificial intelligence to learn Azerbaijani language’ (Report, 2 March 2020) https://report.az/en/ict/artificial-intelligence-to-learn-azerbaijani-language/ accessed 13 May 2020

[xxxviii] ibid.

[xxxix] ‘Azal adopts modern technologies to reduce its harmful emissions’ (Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), 18 September 2019) https://www.azal.az/en/article/510 accessed 13 May 2020

[xl] ibid.

[xli] ‘Heydar Aliyev International Airport — the first airport in the world that has fully switched to cloud technologies’ (AZAL, 26 February 2020) https://www.azal.az/en/article/542 accessed 13 May 2020

[xlii] Beduschi (n 1)

[xliii] ‘Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework’ [2011] UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) https://www.ohchr.org/documents/publications/guidingprinciplesbusinesshr_en.pdf accessed 14 May 2020

[xliv] Beduschi (n 1)

[xlv] ‘Modernization of Sustainability and Efficiency of ICT infrastructure and ICT services in the Republic of Azerbaijan’ (UNDP) https://open.undp.org/projects/00075577 accessed 14 May 2020

[xlvi] ‘Phase 3 — Modernisation of Sustainability and Efficiency of ICT infrastructure and ICT services in the Republic of Azerbaijan’ (UNDP, Azerbaijan Country Office) https://www.az.undp.org/content/azerbaijan/en/home/projects/modernisation-of-sustainability-and-efficiency-of-ict-infrastruc0.html accessed 14 May 2020

[xlvii] UNDP (n 45) and UNDP Azerbaijan (n 46)

[xlviii] Innovation Agency, The Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan https://mincom.gov.az/en/view/organization/16/ accessed 14 May 2020

[xlix] ‘For the first time in Baku, an international conference was held on the topic “Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights” (Institute on Law and Human Rights) http://huquq.org.az/conference/azerbaijan-bakida-ilk-dəfə-olaraq-suni-intellekt-və-insan-huquqlari-movzusunda-beynəlxalq-konfrans-kecirilib/ accessed 14 May 2020

[l] ‘Helsinki Conference on impacts of artificial intelligence on human rights, democracy and the rule of law’ (International Ombudsman Institute (IOI), 18 March 2019 https://www.theioi.org/ioi-news/current-news/helsinki-conference-on-impacts-of-artificial-intelligence-on-human-rights-democracy-and-the-rule-of-law; ‘Head of Ombudsman Office attended conference in Helsinki on “Impacts of artificial intelligence development on human rights, democracy and the rule of law”’ (The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Ombudsman), 4 March 2019) http://ombudsman.gov.az/en/view/news/1249/head-of-ombudsman-office-attended-conference-in-helsinki-on-impacts-of-artificial-intelligence-development-on-human-rights-democracy-and-the-rule-of-law accessed 14 May 2020

[li] ‘The Academics World 874th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing (ICAISC) will be held at Baku, Azerbaijan on 11th-12th August, 2020’ (Academics World) http://www.academicsworld.org/Conference2020/Azerbaijan/1/ICAISC/ accessed 14 May 2020

[lii] Miller and Stirling (n 7)

[liii] Mushvig Mehdiyev, ‘AI Robot Sophia Says Azerbaijan Can Be Leader In Innovation’ (Caspian News, 31 October 2018) https://caspiannews.com/news-detail/ai-robot-sophia-says-azerbaijan-can-be-leader-in-innovation-2018-10-29-19/ accessed 14 May 2020