ATHENS - Legends worldwide underscore humanity’s fascination with artificial intelligence (AI). In ancient Greek mythology, the earliest instance of AI on record is Talos, a giant bronze robot dedicated to protecting the island of Crete. Myth has now become reality in Greece.

AI is recognized as one of the main strategic axes of the Digital Transformation Bible,^[1]the flagship policy report driving the country’s digital transformation, and its ministry of digital governance is poised to release its national AI strategy in collaboration with domestic major stakeholders and local AI experts, the European Union and United States.

To shed light on Greece’s AI terrain, The Yuan spoke with Dr George Giannakopoulos, Research Fellow with the National Center for Scientific Research (NCSR) ‘Demokritos,’ co-founder of non-profit technology transfer company SciFY, and a member of the sectoral Scientific Council regarding Data and AI Policies for the Greek National Council for Research, Technology, and Innovation.

1. The Yuan: Have Greek companies embraced AI in their business operations? If so, in which industries/sectors?

George Giannakopoulos: “The potential of AI in Greece was identified in 2019 in a related Accenture study.^[2]The analysis estimates that AI has the potential to lead to a cumulative US$195 billion gross domestic product (GDP) uplift over a 15-year period (from 2020 to 2035). Players of different sizes and sectors dot the Greek AI landscape.”

“A more recent report^[3]by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), in collaboration with Microsoft, shows that successful use cases of AI already exist in domains ranging from the legal and maritime industries to consumer goods, as this graphic below reveals.”