Hristo Tomov: Keeping up with the Boom of Artificial Intelligence

Hristo Tomov is the managing partner and co-founder of Dreamix. He is the head of the artificial intelligence (AI) department, as well as the Dreamix AI Club - an internal organisation in the field of AI and machine self-learning. He has 15 years of experience in the IT field in Bulgaria and two years in Luxembourg, where he became the head of the integration department of Lombard International Assurance. He is a graduate in Informatics and has two Master's degrees from Sofia University “St.  Kliment Ohridski” in the field of Big Data and Machine learning/Data Mining in the insurance sector. He has given lectures in Basics of E-Government at Sofia University.

There are two main factors for the boom of artificial intelligence (AI) in the last two years. The first being the ever increasing digitalisation of life that made the collection of huge data sets possible. Access to data is of key importance to the development of AI, and while some time ago, developers had thousands of records to work with, now, they have billions. The second factor is that the development of computing power and storage and transmission of information made it possible for these huge data sets to be processed in a reasonable time and at a reasonable price. These two factors combined helped AI pass a certain threshold of relevance to real life, which on the other hand prompted a strong interest from corporations, as well as a huge inflow of investments. They, in turn, made possible the collection and processing of even more data and thus the cycle was closed and gave rise to the accelerated development, which we observe nowadays.

When we talk about the position of Bulgaria in the AI sector, we actually talk about two different things. The first one is the scientific development of AI, the second is the practical deployment of modern developments. And while lagging behind in the first would just be a missed opportunity, delay in deployment would lead to a serious falling behind of Bulgaria in many aspects, as well as a loss of competitiveness on a global level.

Currently, Bulgaria is in a good position. There are many companies, which deploy and develop AI technologies in different fields. At Dreamix for example, AI is one of the identified strategic goals of the company and we invest actively in the development of such specialists. The interest in AI specialities at universities is also very high. In recent years, they require one of the highest grades to enter and, more and more, the curriculum is being kept up to date. The opportunities for self-learning are also growing.

Taking advantage of the huge potential of AI in the public sector could happen only after the development of the electronic government and the digitalisation of services. In the private sector, the support of companies that deploy such technologies is of key importance, as is the support of organisations that bring together people and companies interested in this sector, in order for the much needed environment to be created.