Turkey’s AI ecosystem gathered at TRAI Workshop -

The event handled the needs and priorities of Turkey to stand out in the domain of AI for the next 10 years

Organized by TRAI, Turkey’s Artificial Intelligence Initative, 6th TRAI Workshop brought the Turkish AI ecosystem together. The event tookplace at Kemer Country Golf Club on May 7.

Under the main theme of Vision 2033, the event handled the needs and priorities of Turkey to stand out in the domain of AI for the next 10 years. To do that the related stakeholders of the issue shared their ideas and solutions, which will contribute to solve the possible problems caused by AI. Personally, I was invited to the 6th TRAI Workshop and I will write what I witnessed.

**Halil Aksu, Founder at TRAI (Turkey’s AI Initiative)**

AI stakeholders came together

Firstly, there were around 120 participants attended the event and we were divided into 12 tables. (The team that I was in table no 4) Since the event was a workshop, we were required to work together. But I won’t be mentioning the company names and titles of the the people on our table as I didn’t ask their permission. Instead, I prefer to focus on what we have covered. In any case, at least, I can say their backgrounds, including startups, NGOs, large corporates and banks.

The 6th TRAI Workshop suggested 5 major subjects to work together for the attendees, namely economics, social, environmental, technological and legal. Each table’s subject was preassigned and table no 4 was given `legal`. And here’s what we discussed:

-Regulation, as regularly discussed, is lagging behind technology and AI. To tackle this gap, a cooperation is needed between bar associations and tech companies.

-AI should be protecting the rights of individuals.

-Algorithmic transparency is needed. (And, an example from table no 4: How such transparency can be achieved especially in terms of offering loans to individuals?)

-Bias with AI and what to do about it.

-Can AI help justice to make the the verdicts quicker?

-Is an AI regulatory authority necessary? If yes, who will be in charge of such a regulatory authority?

By the way, I would like to add my with interview with Selin Çetin, who is a lawyer at İstanbul Bar Association, which is questioning the risks of AI in attorneyship.

**Turkey’s AI stakeholders at the 6th TRAI Workshop**

Balanced gender mix

In terms of sustainability, I must say that there was a balanced gender mix at the 6th TRAI Workshop. On the other hand, Halil Aksu, The Founder at TRAI, announced that there are around 300 startups active in the Turkish startups ecosystem, adding the new Turkish AI Startup Map would be updated in June.

The output of the workshop will be published as a seperate report in the following weeks.

Would you like to support TR Technews?

Hi everyone,
I’m running Turkishtechnews.com, a website on tech developments from Turkey. I will be covering subjects ranging from startups to gadgets, digital economy to social media. I’m keen on new technologies as well. On top of those, I’m interested in drama and cinema, with one short and one long film script and three plays. Holding a B.A degree in English Language and Literature, I’m a tech journalist with 15 years of experience.

The reason why I’m here is to produce good quality journalism and try to remain independent as much as possible. Currently, journalism is torn between vague relationships between brands and journalists, not only in Turkey but also globally. Under such circumstances to remain independent is crucial and I need your support to do so.

https://www.patreon.com/hkeremfindik