CCI Serbia: Serbia Ready to Develop a National AI Platform and Large Language Model

Serbia is ready to take the next major step in the development and application of artificial intelligence by creating a national AI platform and its own large language model (LLM) that will be used in everyday life and business. This was the key message of the conference “Application of Artificial Intelligence in Business in Serbia – From Idea to Model, on the Road to an LLM,” held at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia.

“I feel much more comfortable when I am surrounded by people who understand where technology is heading and how we can apply it. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia strongly supports the process of digital transformation, and software is already our main export product, worth €4.5 billion. Serbia is making serious investments in the infrastructure necessary for the development of artificial intelligence—from data centers to supercomputers. We are getting a second one, and by the end of the year a third supercomputer as well, and we are cooperating with NVIDIA. Now we need to move at extra speed—to find good partners and continue learning. We have the technology, engineers, and professors, and we are ready for the next step—the development of a national AI platform and a national LLM,” said Marko Čadež, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia.

The President of the CCI Serbia emphasized that it is very important to use local capacities and experts to train the model on local knowledge with specific datasets from different sectors, to develop a sovereign platform that can later expand and be useful to companies. He highlighted the valuable participation of representatives of the French company Mistral AI at the conference, who exchanged knowledge and experience with local experts and company representatives in the development and training of AI models.

William El Sayed from Mistral AI pointed out that the company is actively working on training systems using data in cooperation with partners from both the public and private sectors.

“We cooperate with governments and companies around the world and develop partnerships in numerous sectors. One of the key elements is embedded platform design, as well as the development of integrated systems—not only software providers but the entire infrastructure. In the next ten years, practically every company will use artificial intelligence, and both businesses and governments will have to adapt to that,” El Sayed said.

He emphasized that as many as 95 percent of companies fail to increase productivity through artificial intelligence alone because the solutions are not tailored to specific industries.

“That is why cooperation between AI specialists and experts from different industries is crucial. Through the co-innovation program, we connect experts from physics, biology, and chemistry with AI engineers to develop solutions that companies can truly implement,” El Sayed added.

Nicolas Schuhl, Lead AI Application Engineer at Mistral AI, emphasized that the biggest global challenges require the most transformative technological solutions.

“Today, AI solutions are most commonly used in finance, management, and administration, but their potential is far broader. Transformative use cases are those that are truly adopted within companies and that change the way businesses operate,” Schuhl said.

As examples of practical applications, he mentioned solutions in the energy sector for predictive maintenance of facilities, optimization of oil system operations, as well as AI tools in logistics for improving processes, which result in greater efficiency and higher satisfaction among both employees and clients.

It was also emphasized at the conference that the development of sovereign AI systems is becoming an increasingly important issue, especially for smaller countries and languages, to maintain control over their own data and technological development.

The conference was organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, GITEX Global, and the French company Mistral AI. It brought together leading domestic and international experts in artificial intelligence, representatives of the technology industry and the business community, with the aim of exchanging knowledge and presenting the latest trends in the application of AI solutions in business, as well as opportunities for developing large language models in Serbia.

Photo: Boban Ristić