ASTANA – Kazakhstan has introduced the Samruk-Kazyna Artificial Intelligence Neural Network (SKAI), the first AI-powered independent member of a Board of Directors in the region with voting rights on Oct. 2. The system was presented by the Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at the Digital Bridge Forum in Astana.
Photo credit: gov.kz
According to the Fund’s press release, SKAI represents a breakthrough in corporate governance by combining human decision-making with artificial intelligence.
“Setting of an AI-based neural network in the Board of Directors is a quantum leap: technology and people are starting to make decisions together, and digitalization goes beyond processes and becomes part of the management philosophy,” said Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund’ Chairman of the Management Board Nurlan Zhakupov.
SKAI is designed to improve transparency and decision-making quality. It processes and analyzes internal and external regulations, Board decisions dating back to 2008, and other corporate records, providing members with data-driven insights to support strategic choices.
Security and sovereignty are central to the system. SKAI operates on the AlFarabium-2 supercomputer, part of Kazakhtelecom, a Fund portfolio company. Data never leaves the country, and the high computing power, based on NVIDIA’s H200 processors, ensures speed and reliability. The platform runs on the Kazakh-language Alem LLM model, underscoring the Fund’s commitment to developing domestic AI capabilities.
The neural network will be tested at the Fund’s next Board of Directors meeting, marking the start of its integration into governance practices. The initiative forms part of Samruk-Kazyna’s long-term digitalization and management transformation strategy.
