Romania has a national artificial intelligence hub funded with approximately 60 million euros in structural funds and is developing centres of excellence in areas including quantum technologies and artificial intelligence, president of the National Research Authority (ANC) Andrei Alexandru said on Wednesday at a workshop dedicated to artificial intelligence, held at the Palace of Parliament.

'We have invested in research programmes. We have funded research in artificial intelligence and quantum technologies. For example, we have a national artificial intelligence hub, funded with approximately 60 million euros in structural funds, through cohesion policy and the Smart Growth, Digitalisation and Financial Instruments Programme. We also have centres of excellence in quantum technologies, funded from national sources. One of them has been established within the Politehnica Bucharest National University of Science and Technology,' Alexandru declared at the event.

According to the ANC head, the competition for excellence centres was 'the most important competition ever launched by Romania, with a budget of 300 million euros.'

'Its objective was to establish 18 permanent centres of excellence. One of them is dedicated to quantum technologies, but we also have centres of excellence in artificial intelligence and other areas related to security, including national security,' the ANC official said.

In his view, research, innovation and knowledge transfer are tools for supporting economic growth, and the authority will continue to support the development of artificial intelligence in the coming years. 'By investing in science and research, we are, in fact, investing in our future,' he went on to remark.

In his turn, Adrian-Victor Vevera, director general of the National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics - ICI Bucharest, who moderated the event, highlighted the importance of developing international cooperation in research and innovation, including with the Republic of Korea.

'We already have numerous innovation partnerships with Japan, European countries and other states. We are open to initiating, together with the National Research Authority, new partnerships with our counterparts in the Republic of Korea,' Vevera said.

Also attending the event, head of the National Cyberint Centre, Anton-Mugurel Rog, drew attention to the risks associated with artificial intelligence, including its potential to facilitate cyberattacks by individuals or groups with limited technical resources.

'Artificial intelligence is no longer an emerging technology. It is already part of the systems that protect our networks and analyse the information environment and, equally, of the tools used by those seeking to undermine us. The same technology that enables us to detect threats in real time allows our adversaries to generate them at unprecedented speed and scale,' Rog explained.

He stressed that the development of autonomous AI systems comes with both benefits and new vulnerabilities.

'We are also witnessing a transition from AI systems that respond to instructions to AI systems capable of planning, reasoning and acting autonomously, connected to databases, external services and critical infrastructure, with minimal human involvement. These systems promise considerable efficiency gains, but they also change the nature of the risks we need to manage,' the head of the National Cyberint Centre detailed.

The National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics - ICI Bucharest organised a workshop dedicated to artificial intelligence at the Palace of Parliament on Wednesday, addressing topics including AI governance, the digitalisation of public administration, the development of digital infrastructure and cybersecurity.

The event was organised in partnership with the Government of the Republic of Korea, under the high patronage of the Senate of Romania. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Nicoleta Banciulea; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)