Minister of Digital Development Shares What Will Be Inside the alem.ai Center

The idea behind the International Center for Artificial Intelligence alem.ai is to create a powerful hub of expertise that will attract top talent, cutting-edge projects, and advanced technologies in the field of AI. This was stated by Zhaslan Madiyev, Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan, in an exclusive in-depth interview with Digital Business. The Minister provided a detailed breakdown of what will be located on each floor of the Nur Alem building in Astana, which will be fully dedicated to the AI center.


– The first floor will be a public space for events and hackathons. It will house an AI museum, AI cinema, AI café, and an AI exhibition showcasing how artificial intelligence is applied across various sectors of the economy. There will also be a children’s AI zone featuring interactive activities.

The second and third floors will be dedicated to the TUMO Education program, which, according to projections, will educate 5,000 to 6,000 children annually across 11 tech disciplines.

Tomorrow School (a peer-to-peer AI school for learners aged 18 and up – editor’s note: Digital Business) will be located on the fourth and fifth floors. Each batch, lasting 18 to 24 months, will accommodate around 1,000 students per year, the Minister clarified.

The sixth floor, according to Madiyev, will house an AI campus for startups.

– Today, Astana Hub has over 1,500 startup residents, about 10% of which are AI-focused or use AI technologies. In addition, we’ve launched our own acceleration program called AI-Preneurs. It will select around 50 participants and provide them with computing power, datasets, LLMs, and specialized training. Participants will form teams and build startups, so by the time they graduate, they’ll already have a working prototype.

The seventh floor will feature R&D centers and AI labs of Big Tech companies.

– There is a preliminary agreement for the creation of a Google Training Engineering Center, as well as labs from Apple Vision, TON, Presight, Telegram, and others. In addition, local tech brands like Kaspi, Freedom, Yandex Qazakhstan, InDrive, and more will be represented. This floor will provide opportunities for large companies to hire students, assign them real tasks, or acquire proven startup solutions.

The eighth floor will host what the Minister described as the AI-driven government.

– This will be a space for collaboration between government bodies, businesses, and the scientific community to implement AI in various sectors. Alem.ai is designed to engage every layer of society — from children and students to professionals, startups, and Big Tech. The best solutions developed at the center will be rolled out into the national economy.

Madiyev emphasized that alem.ai aims to replicate the success story of Astana Hub, which began in the capital seven years ago and has since expanded across Kazakhstan and internationally.

– We’ve launched tech hubs in Silicon Valley, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and Singapore. Just a month ago, we signed an agreement to open a similar space in Dubai,” he said, adding that the same model will be used to develop the AI center. – alem.ai is a unique project that should be based in Astana. Foreign delegations, heads of state, and international companies will visit Kazakhstan and see that the world’s first AI center of this kind was launched here. I believe this ecosystem will serve as a model for other countries. We’re also considering future international expansion — with alem.ai branches potentially opening abroad.

More details available on the Digital Business website.

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