Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation announced the results of research by the country’s largest AI community, AI HOUSE, and investment firm Roosh.
The research looked at the number and growth of start-ups and IT professionals involved in AI, which refers to a wide spectrum of information technology mimicking human cognition, and ML, a branch of AI related to the use of algorithms that enable machines to generate autonomous output by analyzing large datasets. They also analyzed the sectors they operate in and their potential.
As well as the number of AI/ML firms, Ukraine was also placed second in terms of the number of IT specialists with 307,000, behind only Poland with 607,000. Of these, the number working in AI/ML has grown fivefold over the last 10 years to 5,200, but the researchers forecast this number to grow by 330% in the short term. More than a third (36%) of all AI/ML professionals in Ukraine are aged between 21 and 25, the report said.
“Notably, these fields offer the highest average salaries among all IT specializations in Ukraine,” the researchers wrote, adding that the ongoing war has led to a brain drain that has seen many specialists move abroad.
Oleksandr Bornyakov, a deputy minister of digital transformation for IT development, explained that the technology has been applied in Ukraine in a range of sectors, from education to defense. Last year saw reports that some Ukrainian drones were capable of using AI to autonomously identify targets in the war with Russia. Aside from military uses, AI has seen applications across the economy.
“Compared to other European countries, Ukraine has a higher concentration of AI startups in the fields of marketing, gaming, and business software,” the Ministry of Digital Transformation wrote in a press release. Other important sectors include health, robotics, and media, as well as FinTech.
The press release also addressed the main hurdles that the new field faces.
“The key challenges of the AI sphere in Ukraine, according to AI specialists: interaction with other industries, competition and ethical challenges for companies, transformation of talent and education, financial constraints, and loss of talent due to the full-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine,” it said.
