Israel to lure foreign AI experts with meager budget

As the world competes intensely for AI talent, the Israel Innovation Authority is presenting a plan with an exceptionally low budget of $1.8 million to bring AI experts to Israel. This small amount is supposed to fund a pilot program that will bring in 200 experts over three years – or in other words, less than $10,000 to bring in each expert, while annual recruitment costs for AI experts range from $200,000 to $500,000 in the global market. .

There are currently about 2,200 companies operating in Israel whose activities depend on artificial intelligence. According to the authority’s own estimates, only 300 to 400 graduates of higher degrees in this field join the industry each year – a number that does not keep pace with the growing demand. The new program, which will be implemented in cooperation with Nisha, Gevahem and the Jewish Agency for Israel, seems like a drop in the ocean compared to the real needs of the industry.

This gap is particularly acute when compared to the UAE, which has become an emerging powerhouse in the field of artificial intelligence in the past three years. The Gulf state has invested $300 million in the Falcon Foundation to encourage open source research, built a $100 million computer, and is offering strong incentive packages that include income tax relief and preferential living conditions. The result? A jump from 30,000 to 120,000 artificial intelligence experts in just three years, according to the London Times.

“The process of training an AI expert takes about a decade and requires at least a master’s degree,” explains Hanan Brand, Vice President and Head of Startups at the Innovation Authority. But while the authority talks about “criticality” and “talent shortage,” the budget allocated to the solution appears very meager.

Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on December 18, 2024.

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