The Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov chaired a meeting of the Board of JSC "NMF "Samruk-Kazyna". For the first time, an independent digital participant with voting rights took part in the Board's work — the neural network SKAI (Samruk-Kazyna Artificial Intelligence).
According to the government press service, the Board of Directors reviewed the fund's performance over the nine months of the current year. Particular attention was paid to implementing the President's instructions on developing infrastructure and energy projects.
Among the completed facilities are a factory for producing wind energy components in the Zhambyl region, a 50 MW solar power plant in Zhanaozen, the first gasification start-up complex in the city of Kosshy, and a new Taldykorgan–Usharal main gas pipeline stretching 302 km.
Furthermore, traffic has been opened on the second railway tracks on the Dostyk–Moyynty section, which will increase network capacity and speed up export freight.
The Chairman of the Fund's Management Board, Nurlan Zhakupov, reported that financial and production results for the reporting period are in line with planned targets. The disbursement of funds for major investment projects stood at 99%.
In turn, the digital member of the Board of Directors, SKAI, presented an analytical report on supporting domestic goods producers. According to its data, over nine months, the volume of goods purchases from Kazakhstani companies increased by 75% and amounted to 721 billion tenge. A total of more than 7,000 contracts were concluded with 497 suppliers.
According to SKAI's assessment, the annual procurement plan will exceed planned targets thanks to a deal to purchase locomotives from a domestic manufacturer owned by Wabtec.
The fund noted that all information on matters reviewed by the Board of Directors since 2008 has been uploaded into the SKAI neural network.
"The neural network is capable of processing financial, operational and market data in real time, identifying patterns, forecasting risks and consequences, as well as forming reasoned recommendations and making decisions on each item on the agenda. The accuracy and independence of SKAI's analytics significantly reduces the influence of the human factor and increases the transparency of corporate governance. All data is stored in a secure environment on the GPU cluster of JSC 'Kazakhtelecom', fully localised in Kazakhstan," the statement said.
The meeting also heard information on the progress of the presidential initiative "Taza Kazakhstan". As part of the activities, employees of the fund's group companies plan to plant about 1 million trees. The implementation of social projects in the fields of inclusion, sports and medicine is also ongoing. By the end of the year, new sports complexes are planned to open in the Mangystau and West Kazakhstan regions.
Following the meeting, the Prime Minister instructed the fund's management to ensure the timely handover of infrastructure facilities and to strengthen support for domestic producers by increasing the share of Kazakhstani content in procurement.
For context, earlier the Samruk-Kazyna fund presented the SKAI neural network to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, making it the first digital independent board member with voting rights in the region. The presentation took place in Astana as part of the international Digital Bridge forum.
Later, Mazhilis deputy Yekaterina Smyshlyayeva ruled out the possibility of appointing artificial intelligence to public office. She stated that current legislation does not allow such a scenario.