How AI is Changing Education, Science, and Business: A Joint Seminar by KBSU and MIPT

Experts in AI discussed current trends in artificial intelligence research at a scientific and practical seminar held at the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after Kh.M. Berbekov. The speakers included staff from MIPT’s Institute of Artificial Intelligence—leaders in robotics and technological entrepreneurship, generative models, and LLM.

The seminar’s target audience included KBSU students and faculty, employees of the Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pyatigorsk State University, IT companies, and government officials.

According to the results of 2024, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology is ranked among the top three Russian universities by various agencies. Collaboration with KBSU began in the summer of 2025, when the idea arose to hold an expanded scientific and technical seminar.

«I met Azamat Zhilokov, Director of the MIPT Institute of Artificial Intelligence, online. I emailed him,» recalls Zamir Shomakhov, Director of the Institute of Electronics, Robotics, and Artificial Intelligence, PhD in Physics and Mathematics, and Associate Professor at KBSU. «We decided to exchange experiences and establish interuniversity cooperation so that our students and young professionals could intern at MIPT and find academic supervisors. My colleagues and I are also striving to develop new research areas at KBSU in artificial intelligence and robotics.»

The first speaker at the scientific and practical seminar, «Modern Research Trends in Artificial Intelligence,» was Andrey Krivenko, Advisor to the rector of MIPT for Technological Entrepreneurship, founder of VkusVill, and co-founder of the Tiltech Foundation and Beyond Taylor. The key question posed by the speaker was: How can a university become a workplace competitive with leading tech companies? The «University 3.0» concept offers solutions, combining education, research, and innovative entrepreneurship.

«For a university to develop a business, it can’t be built solely on people from science and education. We need to attract entrepreneurs,» Krivenko shared. «A successful university is one that has a business focus. The MIPT Institute of Artificial Intelligence was created according to the «University 3.0» model. This focus, which works with science and major companies, is itself, in a sense, a business. Our students have the opportunity to remain employed in the university’s technology departments after graduation. This is the most important thing. Investment is becoming a promising and essential area. The next concept is «University 3.1,» which attracts funds to the university.

The MIPT Institute of Artificial Intelligence opened in 2024 and employs 300 people. Scientists, researchers, and data scientists are solving ambitious scientific problems in the field of AI and developing products that are in demand in the economy and industry.

Azamat Zhilokov, Director of the MIPT Institute of Artificial Intelligence, noted that access to outside technologies in Russia has been limited or eliminated since 2022, so leading universities are gradually filling this gap, actively developing technologies and implementing them in economic entities.

«This year, our revenue will be around 1.5 billion rubles—this is a kind of indicator of the AI ​​Institute’s impact,» Zhilokov said. «We don’t try to measure everything in monetary terms, but it’s important to understand the demand for our products among industrial partners, companies, and the public sector.»
The Ministry of Digital Development, Communications, and Mass Media of the Russian Federation has included MIPT among six leading centers that will train highly qualified specialists in artificial intelligence from 2025 to 2030. Following a scientific and practical seminar at KBSU, a roundtable discussion was held to determine the direction of cooperation between the universities.

«During a roundtable discussion with the university’s leadership, represented by Vladimir Nikolaevich Lesev, we discussed internships for our young employees at MIPT, interuniversity projects, and collaboration,» said Zamir Shomakhov, Director of the Institute of Electronics, Robotics, and Artificial Intelligence, PhD in Physics and Mathematics, and Associate Professor at KBSU. «Within two weeks, we will sign an agreement, and approximately in 2026, we will establish an MIPT laboratory at KBSU, through which we will work, participate in various projects, train students, and conduct research.»