ASTANA – Nazarbayev University (NU) presented its innovative AI solutions, including the Soyle App, ISSAI KAZ-LLM Kazakh language model, and Artisan Education – a startup revolutionizing self-paced learning in robotics and programming at the British Educational Training and Technology Show (Bett Show), which takes place on Jan. 22-24 in London.
Zhanat Makhataeva presented two of NU’s standout contributions, ISSAI KAZ-LLM and the Soyle App. Photo credit: Nazarbayev University.
A global hub for educational technology annually features over 600 innovative exhibits, thought-provoking discussions, and workshops led by EdTech experts. This year’s event gathered thousands of educators and innovators to explore cutting-edge solutions shaping the future of education, reported NU press service on Jan. 23.
Zhanat Makhataeva, senior data analyst at NU’s Institute of Smart Systems and Artificial Intelligence (ISSAI), presented two of NU’s standout contributions, ISSAI KAZ-LLM and the Soyle App. The ISSAI KAZ-LLM large language model pushes the boundaries of generative AI for low-resource languages. Trained on a neural network supporting Kazakh, Russian, English, and Turkish, the model is a breakthrough in addressing linguistic gaps.
The multifunctional Soyle App, built on Kazakhstan’s speech model, offers features such as speech recognition, voice synthesis, and instant translation into Kazakh, Russian, English, and Turkish.
ISSAI NU’s team collected, processed, synthesized, and translated over 150 billion tokens to create a robust dataset. The model’s performance rivals that of Kazakh, Russian, and English global AI leaders, enabling diverse applications—from translation and content generation to large-scale text processing. KAZ-LLM is poised to serve as the foundation for a Kazakh version of GPT, expanding its reach into educational, professional, and governmental domains.
The app’s translation quality, measured using BLEU scores on the FLoRes benchmark dataset, outperforms comparable tools such as Google Translate, Yandex Translate, and GPT-4o. This marks a milestone in accurate multilingual translation. Designed with an intuitive user interface, the Soyle App aims to bridge communication gaps and enhance Kazakhstan’s growing digital landscape.
Artisan Education, a platform for self-study of robotics and programming, is also presented at the exhibition. The startup’s approach begins with foundational lessons in programming and electronics and culminates in students assembling their robotic models. After obtaining basic programming and electrical engineering knowledge, schoolchildren gradually deepen their skills in Internet of Things (IoT) and AI projects due to a rapid prototyping board based on the Raspberry Pi Pico W microcontroller developed by the startup itself.
Founded in 2023, Artisan Education has a team of 13 members, eight of whom are NU students. The startup participates in NURIS incubation and acceleration programs. It has partnered with over 90 schools in Kazakhstan and is expanding internationally, including into Azerbaijan and the U.K.
