Istanbul hosts artificial intelligence event

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish and Finnish business leaders have held an event in Istanbul spotlighting the potential of artificial intelligence.

The event, called the Ubiquity of Computers and the Rise of Artificial Intelligence, brought together businesspeople and academics on Thursday, said the Turkey-Finland Business Council of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK).

Mehmet Vakur Erkul, Turkey's ambassador in Finland, said artificial intelligence has a huge effect on both technology and society.

"We’re in a brand-new era, the innovation and transformation era," he explained.

Halil Kulluk, head of the business council, stressed that the world is seeing huge changes.

"Machines can learn and perform, the Internet of things is developing, and entrepreneurship was established on durability and resistance," he added.

The event included such figures as Finnish Ambassador in Turkey Pekka Voutilainen, Professors Cem Say and Ali Riza Kaylan from Istanbul’s Bogazici University, Associate Professor Heikki Huttunen from Tampere University, and Professor Sanjay Sarma from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.