Nazarbayev University recently hosted a Townhall Meeting led by Professor Waqar Ahmad, President of Nazarbayev University. The event brought together representatives from across the NU community, including the Nazarbayev University Research Administration (NURA), Institute of Smart Systems and Artificial Intelligence (ISSAI), the Social Development Fund (SDF), the University Service Management (USM), Nazarbayev University Information Technology Systems (NUITS), and the National Laboratory Astana (NLA).
During his remarks, Professor Ahmad emphasized the remarkable achievements of ISSAI, highlighting the Institute’s pioneering work in developing KazLLM (Kazakhstan’s large language model), Beynele (an image generation model tailored to national context), Oylan (a multimodal generative AI integrating audio, language, and vision), and Mangitas (an advanced inference server). He also recalled that the Minister of Science and Higher Education, Sayasat Nurbek, had previously underscored the strategic importance of KazLLM for advancing Kazakhstan’s AI ecosystem.
Professor Ahmad stressed that ISSAI’s contributions are not only vital for Nazarbayev University but also place Kazakhstan on the global map as a regional leader in artificial intelligence research and innovation.
The event also included a recognition ceremony for employees who have dedicated more than ten years of service to the University. ISSAI’s HR Manager, Dana Makhanova, received her award directly from Professor Waqar Ahmad, symbolizing the University’s appreciation of long-standing commitment and excellence.
We sincerely thank Nazarbayev University for hosting this inspiring meeting, which allowed us to reflect on our progress and encouraged us to aim even higher in shaping the future of AI research and innovation in Kazakhstan.