Poland allocates nearly 70 million PLN to build AI Factory

The deputy minister emphasized in an interview with PAP that the planned Artificial Intelligence Factory is not a factory in the conventional sense of the word. "This will be a factory co-financed by the European Commission, which co-creates, tests, and then utilizes artificial intelligence systems," he said.

Standerski pointed out that the establishment of the first Artificial Intelligence Factory in Poland was made possible by Tuesday's government decision.

"Today, the Council of Ministers decided that as part of the budget amendment, PLN 69.6 million will be allocated for a grant to financially support the implementation of the project to build the Artificial Intelligence Factory in Poland," he told PAP.

The deputy minister added that the factory will be created by expanding the resources at the Academic Computer Center Cyfronet AGH. "The local supercomputer will be enhanced with significant computing power. And then we will join the European artificial intelligence ecosystem."

Asked about the timeline for the construction of the factory, Standerski expressed hope that the process would begin later this year and conclude next year. It is still unclear who will be the main contractor for the project.

The Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs also emphasized that the construction of the AI Factory brings many benefits. "What artificial intelligence very much needs are, first of all, computing power, and secondly - data. When it comes to data, in terms of data openness, we are already a leader in the world. Computing power is the area where we still need to invest. And today's decision to build the AI Factory, which will be co-financed by the European Union, is a huge step in this regard," he explained.