By hosting the GPAI Summit, as a first of its kind event in Europe, Serbia demonstrates its commitment to ensuring that transformative technologies serve the greater good
Hosting the 2024 GPAI Summit is a significant milestone for the Republic of Serbia, spotlighting its commitment to the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence. In a world grappling with the balance between efficiency and ethical AI, this summit marks an important moment for global discussions.
The Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), established during the 2020 G7 summit by Canada and France, aims to address these challenges. The OECD has this year become the partnership’s official host, with the Belgrade summit being the first since this transition.
A critical component of responsible AI is preparing future generations to navigate its complexities. The first GPAI Summit in Europe will bring together leading voices from the OECD, global AI experts and industry leaders to discuss AI’s role in society and forge collaborative solutions to its challenges.
Serbia has already taken notable strides towards responsible AI. Within the first 100 days of its new government, a Council for Artificial Intelligence was established to coordinate and implement the national AI strategy. This builds on Serbia’s 2020–2025 AI Development Strategy, which laid the groundwork for ethical AI through initiatives like the Artificial Intelligence Institute and the adoption of an ethical framework for responsible AI development.
Serbia is laying the groundwork for a future in which technological innovation will benefit all members of society
Looking ahead, the 2024–2030 AI Development Strategy aims to harness AI to enhance education, science, the economy, public services and security, while regulating ethical aspects and minimising misuse. The vision is for Serbia to become a regional leader in AI, fostering innovation and attracting investment.
Serbia is transitioning its economy to a knowledge-based model, with ICT emerging as the largest net-exporting industry. ICT exports exceeded a value of €3.44 billion in 2023, showing growth at an annual rate exceeding 26% over the past 11 years.
This success is underpinned by Serbia’s engineering excellence and skilled talent pool, nurtured through strong STEM education. According to the 2023 Shanghai Ranking, the University of Belgrade ranked 301–400 globally, and 201–300 in Physics. Coding is part of the compulsory school curriculum from 5th grade, where pupils learn tools like Scratch, Python, Pygame and Jupyter. Serbia also boasts high English language proficiency, ranking 24th among 113 countries on the 2023 English Proficiency Index, with Belgrade ranking 19th among cities globally.
Serbia’s vibrant start-up ecosystem plays a key role in its knowledge economy. By integrating AI into health, agriculture and education, Serbian start-ups are addressing real-world problems and fostering innovation.
Challenges nonetheless remain. The start-up system is still in its infancy, while traditional industries are lagging behind in terms of automation, robotisation and AI adoption. Overcoming these hurdles requires not just legal and innovation infrastructure, but also a broader cultural shift towards embracing technological advancements.