Politicians, academics and entrepreneurs discussed the benefits, risks and requirements for introducing and using artificial intelligence (AI) effectively in Bulgaria at a national forum on Thursday.
The forum, Building with Artificial Intelligence: From Campus to Smart City, was organized by the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy (UACEG) and held in its Aula Maxima. BTA is a media partner.
Participants included Parliamentary Innovation and Digital Transformation Committee Chair Tomislav Donchev; MEP Kristian Vigenin; Sofia Deputy Mayor for Digitalization, Innovation and Economic Development Ivan Goychev; Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Pavleta Pelovska; Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA) Executive Vice-Chair Milena Angelova, who is also Deputy Chair of the Alliance for the Sustainable Development of Artificial Intelligence; and GATE Institute Business Development Director Georgi Randelov.
Energy is the key consideration when building new capacity in Bulgaria, Donchev said. He cited projections that electricity consumption by data centres worldwide would reach around 950 terawatt-hours by 2030, equivalent to 3% of global electricity generation.
If an investor built a one-gigawatt data centre in Bulgaria, national electricity consumption would rise by 23%, Donchev said. The country’s existing electricity system could support up to two centres of that size, he added. He said such a facility offered no obvious benefits on its own and questioned how its output would be taxed. Unless each investment was linked to a development or engineering centre, the benefits would be very limited. Every such project needed a component of that kind to deliver lasting economic benefits, he said.
Donchev also pointed to changes in the labour market. There are already large numbers of unemployed programmers and graphic designers, he said. Accountants, low-skilled lawyers and low-skilled engineers would be next, he predicted. He expressed confidence that AI would also create new jobs, but said the opportunities and challenges would bring a societal transformation.
“I just want to remind you what the first industrial revolution brought us: communism, several revolutions and a world divided in two for a long time. I cannot yet tell you what artificial intelligence will bring us, but we certainly should not expect calm times,” Donchev said.
Unlike the United States and China, which are making major efforts to develop new capacity, Europe began with regulation, he said. Vigenin agreed, but added that Europe could not remain a continent that only regulated technology and needed to do much more to encourage its development. AI systems could be very useful, but caution was necessary when their function began to change, he said, stressing the importance of European rules.
Vigenin reviewed Europe’s progress on regulation, focusing on the EU AI Act, the best-known legislation to date, which is being implemented in stages because of its complexity. Its underlying principle is relatively simple: technologies are regulated according to the risks their particular uses pose to people, rather than all being treated alike, he said. He also listed practices he described as banned outright because they posed an unacceptable risk to fundamental rights: certain forms of manipulative AI, some social scoring systems and law enforcement use of real-time remote biometric identification in public places.
“We do not want to ban technology, but to establish clear rules for situations in which technology gains power over people,” Vigenin said. Smart cities should be assessed by their results, not merely by counting cameras and sensors, he added. A truly smart city is not one that knows everything about its residents, but one that uses enough information to serve them better while knowing where to draw the line, he said in conclusion.
Goychev cited a well-known professor’s view that a smart city stops working when technology becomes an end in itself. It should serve people and respond to residents’ feedback, he said.
Work with digital twins had identified urban heat islands, where temperatures were much higher than in other parts of the city, Goychev said. The next major goal was to develop a transport model for Sofia, allowing traffic lights to adjust automatically to traffic conditions and the effects of street closures for repairs to be assessed. AI had also been used to identify regulations that cause administrative delays, producing a list of ordinances and laws that he said Sofia Municipal Council needed to amend.
During the panel discussion, Pelovska addressed the structural changes that technological development is bringing to the management of infrastructure systems.
Her presentation on AI applications in infrastructure focused on improving management through data accumulated over decades. It described a structural change in how infrastructure is managed and a need for skills in understanding how systems interact. This includes assessing the risk of cascading effects following a failure in just one system. AI could also change the response to failures, moving from the current reactive approach towards forecasting and preparing for potential crises. Technological advances now make it possible, for the first time, to bring the entire infrastructure lifecycle into a single information environment, from deciding what to build to determining what to manage and how, she said.
Pelovska stressed, however, that this model depends on a connected information environment and up-to-date, high-quality data, because data quality underpins the quality of the proposed solution.
These changes would raise, rather than lower, the demands on future professionals’ skills and knowledge, Pelovska said. The Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works was seriously considering introducing AI systems, she added.
Angelova presented Artificial Intelligence and Water Resources: Opportunities and Risks. She stressed AI’s importance for forecasting based on data, early warning systems, weather forecasts, and improving management and oversight within globally interconnected social and economic systems. Its benefits include faster learning, finding solutions and improving efficiency, she said. AI’s added value lies in accounting for complex relationships, dependencies, multiple factors, needs and constraints. This allows solutions to be refined and adapted to take relevant factors into account.
Although interacting with AI is now commonplace and brings benefits, Angelova also drew attention to the associated risks. AI systems depend on a physical ecosystem that consumes large quantities of water, energy, rare-earth minerals and critical raw materials, and requires land.
Opposing future AI development projects was not the right approach, she said. Instead, she called for open dialogue with local communities and efforts to find mutually beneficial solutions.
Angelova also discussed the EU’s experience and its existing legal and regulatory framework for AI as a digital technology. She called for a better understanding of that framework and more effective implementation, taking account of business needs and addressing trade-offs between economic choices and potential public concerns. She also referred to the alliance’s involvement in drafting a National AI Strategy.
Bulgaria has a unique opportunity to become a leader in AI development and attract data centres, as Western Europe is already saturated with such facilities, she said in conclusion.
Randelov, another participant in the panel discussion, called for open access to data.
Addressing students in the hall, he urged them to lead change by moving beyond what he described as a feudal, proprietary mindset towards data ownership and storage. Such thinking was a barrier to progress, he said.
Randelov outlined the institute’s history, mission, goals, projects and team.
President Iliana Iotova also attended the forum and delivered a formal address to participants and guests. UACEG Rector Gichka Kutova-Kamenova also welcomed attendees.
Iotova said AI should be judged by the benefits it brings to society, rather than approached with fear or boundless admiration. Technology remains a tool used by people, she said, and students must connect the physical and digital worlds in ways that improve the environment and quality of life. Human judgement is becoming increasingly important, making the education of professionals who can think critically and use new technologies wisely a key task for universities.
Smart cities should be judged by how effectively technology solves urban problems and improves people’s lives, rather than by the number of sensors, cameras and algorithms, she added. Iotova urged participants to identify Bulgaria’s place in global technological change and the advantages that could make it a leader in developing and applying technology for public benefit. She also called for cooperation between institutions to build consensus and avoid divisions in society.
Through the forum, UACEG aims to encourage dialogue between institutions, the university and businesses on an issue of growing importance to society, the economy and Bulgaria’s development. Thursday’s forum launched a series of events that will mark the university’s 85th anniversary.
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