Good practices in the implementation of artificial intelligence

A recent gathering organized by the Slovenian State Holding, Delo Media, and the Jozef Stefan Institute focused on best practices for implementing artificial intelligence within business models. Attendees discussed how these technologies influence corporate competitiveness. The event highlighted physical artificial intelligence and autonomous agents as key opportunities for Slovenia. Marko Grobelnik, a researcher at the Jozef Stefan Institute’s AI department, presented a review of global breakthroughs. He noted that the field develops exponentially, with rapid growth in users, revenues, and investments alongside falling costs for intelligence. However, energy, chips, and data centers remain critical bottlenecks. Grobelnik pointed to the progress of Chinese models, which closely track American ones, and the shift from chatbots to agents capable of executing long tasks independently. His team currently uses such an agent to manage administration and search for information regarding past projects and partners. Beyond software, physical AI, particularly humanoid robots, represents another major direction. Grobelnik argued that physical AI, agents, and applications offer the greatest business opportunity for Slovenia. Marko Stefančič, director of the Competence Center for Artificial Intelligence consortium, stated that a lack of time and knowledge often prevents companies from adopting these tools. Specific implementation cases were presented by the Slovenian State Holding, Telekom Slovenije, the SIJ Group, and the firm Hiproject. Matjaz Bericich, network and infrastructure director at Telekom Slovenije, described the company as moving from experimentation into a stable phase. Telekom provides infrastructure for AI and is reinventing voice services for this purpose. He emphasized that AI serves as an organizational security project. The main challenge involves delivering measurable value to owners. The company funds its AI development through current revenue rather than debt, requiring vision, knowledge, behavior, and ethics. Boris Horvat, IT director at SIJ, outlined four pillars for their strategy: user processes, production processes, automation, and business intelligence visualization. SIJ spends 150 million euros annually on electricity. Optimizing consumption by even one to three percent yields substantial savings. Working with Kolektor, the group visualized data to make real-time decisions. Savings have already recovered an investment of approximately 500,000 euros. At their Ravne facility, a digital twin of the production line reduced gas usage in furnaces. Horvat stressed that humans must remain central to these projects. Urban Pevnik, director of Hiproject, and sales lead Bojan Goluh discussed the integration of humanoid robots into various industries. Their goal is to bring these robots into enterprises. Currently, suppliers are primarily Chinese, though European or American providers may emerge later. Pevnik identified software creation as Slovenia’s specific advantage. Hiproject builds custom software and handles service maintenance. Robots currently walk through factories, while banks facilitate financing for business leasing. Applications range from dance and hospitality reception duties to warehouse autonomy and cleaning. The next stage involves bionic robots resembling humans. Hiproject plans to invest in a robotics center in Slovenske Konjice, which will be unique. A separate financial publication headline suggested discussions on funding sources for such investments, though no further details were provided in the available materials.