NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang welcomed the idea of creating a Kazakhstani equivalent of ChatGPT capable of understanding the Kazakh language, culture and national context.
Huang believes that developing homegrown artificial intelligence is a matter of national security and state independence from foreign AI systems.
He spoke about the issue in Astana while discussing AI development with Kazakhstan’s Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development, Zhaslan Madiyev.
«People are questioning whether we need to have our own Kazakh GPT. So, we want that AI understands and speaks Kazakh and captures cultural contexts and cultural specifics,» Madiyev said.
The minister added that Kazakhstan has already developed several AI models based on open-source technologies and models with downloadable weights. However, Madiyev also asked when the country should develop its own foundational model from scratch and whether it would be worthwhile.
«I think it makes complete sense and in fact I believe it to be a national security concern… Intelligence is foundational. Intelligence is general purpose. Intelligence affects every single citizen, every single company, every single country,» Huang said.
He compared national data to natural resources, stressing that governments should retain control over information about their populations, languages and cultures rather than hand it all over to foreign technology companies.
«You cannot export something as fundamental as your people’s culture and values and export that to import the intelligence from someone else. It makes no sense,» Huang noted.