There is a common expression, especially among new immigrants, that Israel has always been 40 years behind the rest of the world. But that was never the case with high tech.
Midreshet Ben-Gurion on Wednesday launched a national effort to increase Israel's competitive advantage in artificial intelligence.
The initiative, dubbed 'The Institute', is innovative. We offer customized training programs for business executives, designed to equip them with the tools they need to address the transformative impact that AI will have on their business environments.
The initiative will advance Israel's leadership in implementing artificial intelligence capabilities in four key industries: cyber, health, finance, and education.
jerusalem post office Correspondent Eve Young reported on the release event.
Interviews, speeches, and panel discussions all touched on the importance of Israel doing its part in entering the world of artificial intelligence, so to speak.
AI guru Yoav Shoham, speaking at the institute, said that so far there has been relatively little actual adoption of AI technology by Israeli companies, and that people still do not have sufficient knowledge about AI. , said they don't understand how AI can reduce costs.
Is AI slowly but surely on the rise?
He predicted that the use of AI will become more integrated by the end of the year.
Israel is an emerging nation, and our high-tech industry must jump on this trend quickly before it is left in the dust.
“The reason countries don't boycott us is because they don't want to lose our human capital, our high technology, and our economic connections,” Chairman Isaac Herzog said at the institute's launch. was right.
in Jerusalem Post's At the annual Women's Leadership Summit, Innovation, Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel said she aims to make Israel a leader in AI.
She said her goal is to “put Israel at the forefront of research and development in artificial intelligence and advanced technologies.”
But so far, there has been a lot of talk around AI, but not much action. Of course, Israeli companies like AI21 are consolidating and moving forward quickly, but they are the rare exception.
A report released by Salesforce in January found that 93% of Israeli business leaders are deeply concerned about missing out on the benefits of AI advances.
On the other hand, Israelis have been early to experiment with AI. His September survey of Salesforce found that his 49% of respondents had adopted generative AI within their first year.
Still, Israel's technology industry needs to maintain its place on the world stage. If you fall behind in AI, you will fall behind in everything else. After all, investment in the high-tech sector has declined significantly in Israel over the past two years. Israeli active funds fell by a third from 2022 to 2023, while foreign funds fell by more than 40%.
If Israel's economy is to continue to thrive, it needs an endless pool of talented computer scientists, engineers, and mathematicians to leverage their capabilities to drive domestic AI innovation.
Admittedly, that's no easy feat. After all, the industry is populated primarily by young men, who have been conscripted into the Israeli Defense Forces reserves one by one over the past seven months amid the Israeli-Hamas war.
Having said that, the government and its various authorities must find ways to support these companies as they continue to move forward despite and because of this setback.
Because “despite” the war is holding us back, but “thanks to” we need to succeed in overcoming it and where our high-tech industry should push it forward. That's why. After all, this industry brings an unparalleled amount of international cooperation and partnerships, and those relationships must be fostered if we are to survive on the other side of this war.
Israel remains an emerging nation, but its emerging industry now requires state support. This may seem like a setback, but it's an investment. The future of Israel's economy and reputation depends on its success.