Members of the scientific community working in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the Island endorse the candidacy presented by the Cabildo to host the new headquarters of the national entity. The State Agency for Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (Aesia) will monitor the development of this combination of algorithms to create machines with the same capabilities as humans. To the well-known reasons, which include the climate and excellent connections, professionals add others such as energy efficiency or the enormous talent in terms of technological innovation. This is the opinion, with nuances, of the expert Asier Arranz; the professor of engineering at University of La Laguna (ULL), Jesus Torres; or the professor and director of the chair of big data –the enormous volume of data that floods the network every day– of the academic institution, José Luis Roda García.
“AI will change the world.”
Asier Arranz, from Bilbao, works in the area of artificial intelligence and robotics at Nvidia, the largest company in the artificial intelligence sector worldwide. He previously did it at IBM Research’s quantum computing lab in New York. Settled on the Island, four months ago he moved to Madrid although, as he says, “I come and go.” Next Thursday, November 3, he will be in Tenerife to participate in a forum on artificial intelligence and biases, that is, facial recognition.
Asier is convinced that artificial intelligence “will change the world and society in the coming years.” He adds that it will be the specific field of generative artificial intelligence that “will make the biggest difference.” Arranz values that Tenerife “is a destination sought after by digital nomads” and has strengths such as “the many physical centers it has” or the entire structure ofl Astrophysical Institute of the Canary Islands (IAC). In this regard, he assures that “before everything was based on science and research, but now AI plays a key role that in Tenerife has an ideal place to develop.”
The area of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence leads the knowledge at the ULL
Highlights the consolidated technological events that are held here such as the Lan Party or Tenerife GGG. Another factor is “the great talent that exists on the Island and that a lot has had to leave, as I could see in New York.” He does not forget to mention «the connection of the ocean head with great speed and bandwidth». They are values that other applicants do not have “without having a privileged climate.” Do not forget to mention the area of knowledge of Computing and artificial intelligence of the ULL with prominence for the professor Pino Caballero.
It concludes with another unique and positive feature: energy efficiency. In this regard, he underlines: “Training artificial intelligence models involves high energy consumption, so locating data processing centers in places that are powered by renewable sources is crucial.” He adds: “More so now with the escalation in electricity prices resulting from the energy crisis. The Canary Islands and Tenerife start from a position of advantage over other locations. He recalls that “the Island, which is also green par excellence, has greater independence at an energy level, without the ups and downs of the continent.” He concludes: “Artificial intelligence needs a lot of energy and here it can be provided evenly without having to recurrently heat or cool as elsewhere,”
“Innovation hub”.
Jesús Torres Jorge is the academic director of the University Master’s Degree in Video Game Development and professor at the Department of Computer and Systems Engineering at the ULL. He introduces himself: «My research is oriented towards applications of artificial intelligence in different fields such as energy or tourism». Value the advantages of hosting an agency of this type in the fact that in the end “it becomes a pole of innovation in this field and its various applications”. In this sense, he values that “we have very powerful research groups in Canarian universities that apply artificial intelligence in tourism, energy, robotics, logistics or the world of data analytics.”
To this must be added the technological poles with research companies whose headquarters are already here, such as those in the Science Park. Torres recalls that “they are already working on the development of artificial intelligence.” Then there would be “all the tax advantages for those who came because it is about attracting national and world talent.” He mentions the legislation of the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC) that makes it easier for companies to establish themselves. He also appreciates the place in this design of the digital nomads who live here and work remotely digitally. He considers their contribution to this pole important, from which they would feed. The expert concludes: “The headquarters would generate a very interesting breeding ground.”
The scientific community requests a good articulation of the offer with “more than enough merits”
“Well articulated.”
José Luis Roda García is director of the Cajasiete Big Data Chair –volume of data on the network–, Open Data –data open to all– and Blockchain –exploitation of the digital currency, bitcoin–. He is also a professor at the Department of Computer and Systems Engineering at the University of La Laguna. He is cautious and asks that this idea “be well studied, articulated and have the necessary institutional and economic support.” He considers that “of course there are advantages for this Island, a privileged place, to host the headquarters; among them, the prosecutors of the ZEC». But Roda insists on the idea of ”doing things well” because “it is not so much about a physical space because we can have many that would be worth it”. He believes that it is necessary to define what the “supervision” that accompanies the Artificial Intelligence Agency means. This is, he deepens, “a spectacular field, specialized companies abound here and I imagine that the intention is that more come from outside.” He stresses that “we must support but also define the strategic objectives with clear planning.” He concludes: «There is talent but we need support for science, research and transference».
academic structure.
The ULL has Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence among its areas of knowledge. It has 21 researchers, including four professors who lead the research and innovation part. They are José A. Moreno Pérez, Pino Caballero Gil, J. Marcos Moreno Vega and Mª Belén Melián Batista. There are, on the other hand, two institutional chairs related to artificial intelligence whose objective is to promote and strengthen business activities related to this field. One is the Cajasiete-ULL in Big Data, Open Data and Blockchain directed by José Luis Roda García with Carlos A. González Delgado, director of Cajasiete Strategy, as deputy director. Mention should also be made of the Edosoft-ULL for Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence, directed by Cándido Caballero Gil.
