This places Slovenia squarely on the map of the most globally visible and advanced countries in the field of artificial intelligence.

The centre represents a recognition of Slovenian scientists and is the result of close cooperation between the Slovenian government and UNESCO in the past, particularly in the area of open access educational resources, where Slovenia has established itself as a global leader. The centre will place Slovenia at the pinnacle of global technological development.

Slovenia is expected to establish the International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI) under the auspices of UNESCO in early 2020, when an agreement will be signed between UNESCO and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport.

The IRCAI will be the first global AI centre backed by UNESCO, and will also serve as a model for other centres that will be built around the world. In the meanwhile, several countries and international organisations have already expressed interest in active cooperation with the new centre.

The purpose of the centre is to provide an open, transparent environment that, in addition to research and discussion on artificial intelligence, provides public and political support to stakeholders around the world for the drafting of policies and action plans in the field of artificial intelligence.