AI Balkans

09/09/2026

Skopje is getting ready for one of the region’s biggest AI and startup gatherings.

We spoke with Sasho Jovanovski, CEO behind StartupRevolution.ai AI Summit, about why this year’s event is not just about panels and buzzwords — but about real AI products, startups, investors, partnerships and opportunities for the Balkans.

From October 1–4, founders, companies, investors and AI experts from across the world will meet in Skopje.

Read the interview: https://aibalkans.com/news/interviews/sasho-jovanovski-on-startup-revolution-ai-summit

By Aleksandra Todorovikj · Sep 9, 2026 · Interviews — Sasho Jovanovski discusses Startup Revolution AI Summit, bringing AI, startups, investors and global opportunities to Skopje.

09/09/2026

Skopje is entering a busy period for AI and technology this autumn, with two major events bringing together different parts of the ecosystem.

AI Tech Summit and Startup Revolution AI Summit have different formats and audiences, but both create important space for connection between technology, talent, research, startups, companies and investment.

For North Macedonia, this kind of activity matters because strong ecosystems are built through visibility, collaboration, knowledge exchange and new partnerships.

Two major gatherings in such a short period also send a broader signal: AI and technology are becoming a more serious part of the country’s business, innovation and public conversation.

AI Balkans will be following both summits and the wider regional developments around them.

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By Guest Contributor · Sep 9, 2026 · North Macedonia — Skopje will host AI Tech Summit and Startup Revolution AI Summit in autumn 2026, bringing AI, startups, investment and technology into focus.

06/09/2026

North Macedonia Introduces AI as an Elective Subject in Secondary Schools

Secondary-school students across North Macedonia will be able to study artificial intelligence as a new elective subject from the 2026/27 school year, as the country begins bringing formal AI education into classrooms.

The new subject, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, consists of a 36-hour curriculum developed through the VEZILKA project in cooperation with the Bureau for Development of Education.

The programme has now been officially included in the country’s secondary-education curriculum. Students will be introduced to the basic concepts behind artificial intelligence, but the subject goes beyond explaining how AI works. The curriculum also covers practical use of AI tools, prompting, fact-checking, AI-generated content and the safe, ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence.

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By Suad Seferi · Sep 6, 2026 · North Macedonia — North Macedonia is introducing a 36-hour AI elective for secondary-school students from the 2026/27 school year.

06/09/2026

The University of Ljubljana has introduced university-wide guidelines for artificial intelligence, creating a common framework covering students, lecturers, researchers and professional staff.

Published at the beginning of September, the guidelines apply across learning, teaching, assessment, research, development work and university administration.

Rather than banning generative AI or leaving individual faculties to deal with it independently, Slovenia’s largest university is setting common principles for how the technology should be used.

Those principles include human responsibility for the final result, protection of personal and confidential data, transparency when AI is used, academic integrity, equitable access and using AI only where its role is proportionate to the task.

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06/09/2026

Romania has officially started implementing RO AI Factory, a new national artificial intelligence infrastructure that will connect the country directly to Europe’s expanding network of AI-focused supercomputing centres.

The project began on September 1 and will be hosted by the National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics, ICI Bucharest. It is being developed together with the National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest and other academic, research and industry partners.

RO AI Factory is being funded through the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, or EuroHPC JU, under the European Union’s wider effort to give researchers, startups, companies and public institutions access to computing infrastructure capable of supporting advanced AI development.

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By Suad Seferi · Sep 6, 2026 · Balkan AI — Romania has started implementing RO AI Factory, a EuroHPC-backed national AI infrastructure expected to become operational by 2027.

04/09/2026

When AI Betrays Law and Justice: Skopje Conference Brings Legal and AI Experts Together

Skopje will host an international scientific conference on 16 September bringing together legal scholars, researchers, digital policy experts and technology practitioners to examine how artificial intelligence is affecting law, human rights, constitutionalism and democratic accountability.

The conference, “When AI Betrays Law and Justice: Human Rights, Constitutionalism and Democratic Accountability in the Algorithmic Age,” will take place at Hotel Panoramika and is organised by the Faculty of Law “Iustinianus Primus” at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje.

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04/09/2026

Vladimir Trajkovikj on AI, Education and the Western Balkans

Generative AI is changing more than the tools students use. It is also forcing universities to reconsider what students need to learn, how knowledge should be assessed, and what skills will matter as increasingly capable systems can generate code, text and analysis within seconds.

For North Macedonia and the wider Western Balkans, the discussion also reaches beyond the classroom. It touches research capacity, digital infrastructure, cooperation between universities and industry, and whether smaller countries can build their own AI expertise and applied solutions rather than remain primarily users of technologies developed elsewhere.

AI Balkans spoke with Prof. Dr. Vladimir Trajkovikj about how generative AI is changing computer science education, the position of North Macedonia in the European research landscape, the potential for applied AI, and what the country needs to strengthen its technological and research capacity.

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By Aleksandra Todorovikj · Sep 4, 2026 · Interviews — Vladimir Trajkovikj discusses AI in education, research, universities and what North Macedonia needs to strengthen its AI capacity.

04/09/2026

GPT-6 Astra vs Claude Fable 5.1: The Frontier AI Race Moves Beyond Chatbots

OpenAI and Anthropic have released two of their most capable AI models within days of each other, and the competition between them is starting to look very different from the chatbot race of the past few years.

Anthropic introduced Claude Fable 5.1 on September 1, followed two days later by OpenAI's release of GPT-6 Astra. Both companies are positioning the models for demanding professional work rather than everyday prompting: software development, research, computer use, long-running tasks and workflows that can continue with less human supervision.

There are similarities, but the models are not being deployed in quite the same way.

OpenAI is pushing Astra strongly toward end-to-end computer work and agentic ex*****on. Anthropic is presenting Fable 5.1 primarily around coding, knowledge work and long-horizon research, while separating some of its more sensitive capabilities into Claude Mythos 5.1.

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By Suad Seferi · Sep 4, 2026 · Comparisons — GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1 target coding, research and agentic work. We compare capabilities, pricing, access and safety.

28/08/2026

NVIDIA is reportedly moving closer to acquiring Hugging Face, one of the most important platforms in the open AI ecosystem, in a deal valued at roughly $13 billion.

The Information reported that NVIDIA had agreed to purchase the company for about $12.9 billion. Other reporting, however, suggests negotiations may not yet have resulted in a signed agreement. Neither NVIDIA nor Hugging Face has publicly confirmed the acquisition. That distinction matters. For now, this is a reported deal rather than a completed one.

If it goes ahead, the acquisition would give NVIDIA control of a platform that has become central to how researchers, developers and companies find, share and deploy AI models.

Hugging Face is often compared with GitHub, but for machine learning. Its platform hosts models, datasets, evaluation tools and applications used across the AI community, including thousands of open and open-weight projects.

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25/08/2026

UNICEF and chip designer Arm are expanding a global programme aimed at bringing practical artificial intelligence tools and AI education to children and communities that are often left out of the technology's fastest-moving markets.

The initiative, called AI in Play, brings together technology companies, local innovators, governments and young people to develop AI projects focused on education, health and climate resilience.

UNICEF formally named Arm as a founding partner of the initiative on August 20, with Arm detailing the programme in a separate announcement on August 24.

The goal is not simply to provide access to existing chatbots.

AI in Play is designed around local projects, including tools that can work on affordable devices and in places where internet connectivity is unreliable.

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By Suad Seferi · Aug 25, 2026 · AI & Education — UNICEF and Arm's AI in Play initiative aims to bring AI tools, literacy and local innovation to millions of children in emerging economies.