The central topic of the speech was the practice of introducing artificial intelligence into production processes and corporate governance. Yuri Kombarov asked a question to German Gref, President and Chairman of the Board of Sberbank PJSC, and shared ZAVKOM-ENGINEERING’s experience in using neural networks.
In particular, the head of the company spoke about the advantages of introducing artificial intelligence and its real practical application using the example of one of the recent ZAVKOM-ENGINEERING cases, when, as part of concluding a new contract using AI, enormous amounts of information were processed, which significantly accelerated the final signing of the contract.
In terms of strategy for the future, the General Director of ZAVKOM-ENGINEERING voiced the idea of increasing information culture and the need for professional training of users through the introduction of relevant courses in schools now.
Yuri Kombarov emphasized that introducing neural networks as a tool for solving business problems is not easy not only in enterprises, but even children and teenagers, who seem to react much more flexibly to trends, are behind their time in the context of using AI for their own needs due to the lack of an appropriate educational platform.
Answering Yuri Kombarov’s question about what specific steps should be taken by business and society to solve the problem of teaching the use of neural networks in schools, German Gref emphasized the unpreparedness of the education system to implement this task due to the lack of experience in the constant systemic use of artificial intelligence, which is so actively practiced by the business community.
But “sit back” and wait for the trend to begin and end, to pass by, in this case it is absolutely impossible, says the president of Sberbank PJSC, and the general education system, which is critically important and plays a decisive role in a person’s life, must be rebuilt and put on new tracks as quickly as possible. German Gref cited the example of China and its level of response to trends and new priorities, where children, upon graduating from kindergarten, speak simple programming languages, and courses on studying neural networks have been introduced in kindergartens themselves.
In order to go to work in good companies tomorrow, children should not have the knowledge of the day before yesterday, says German Gref; they must have real ideas about the current reality. Thus, he agreed with the opinion of the general director of ZAVKOM-ENGINEERING LLC and, moreover, expressed the idea that the curriculum in secondary schools critically needs to be radically revised literally now:
“We don’t teach entrepreneurship, we don’t teach economics... And the worst thing is that we don’t give children an understanding of what it means to make decisions, set goals, search for purpose... And if you’re not doing your own thing, you’ll never achieve results in life.”
The key idea of German Gref in this direction in the context of teaching in schools:
“And only the introduction of artificial intelligence into the process (and this gives the answer to the question “How to teach?”) will enable the teacher to get away from all the routine and engage in educating a person... And our Unified State Exam... This cannot be understood, it can only be learned. We kill the creative, cognitive function of children completely, and then we have children who are not ready for life.”
The opinion of business, which is “the most important client of the education system,” from the point of view of the head of Sber, should be taken into account and be a priority when forming educational programs today, and business should be more active and initiate changes, persistently propose specific practical steps, and work with educational institutions. Our company fully supports this position and is aimed at systematic career guidance work with educational institutions to introduce digital and neural network technologies into the educational process in order to train our future specialists.