I am the last person, and the ministry is the last institution in Poland, that would interfere with the development of artificial intelligence. We know that this is the future, it is beyond discussion – said the Minister of Science and Higher Education, Dariusz Wieczorek, in the “Fakty po Faktach” program on TVN24, referring to the confusion in IDEAS NCBR. – We have over 30 centers dealing with AI in Poland, these are institutes, universities, it needs to be coordinated. There is actually a place for these outstanding specialists here, said the politician.
Earlier on Wednesday, Minister of Science Dariusz Wieczorek proposed that Professor Piotr Sankowski continue to coordinate the work of scientists at the NCBR's IDEAS center. As he emphasized during the meeting, “no research will be suspended, and the development of artificial intelligence in Poland is not at risk.”
Meeting with the professor
Dariusz Wieczorek was asked in the “Fakty po Faktach” program about the meeting with Sankowski.
– I had the opportunity to meet with the professor to clarify some things and probably some misunderstandings. IDEAS is a limited liability company, the term of office of the management board has ended, a transparent competition and new elections have been announced, and the supervisory board, which is responsible in each company for its functioning, made the choice in a secret ballot – he said.
– This has nothing to do with what the professor has done so far, i.e. it is not that the new management of the company suddenly liquidates all teams and it stops working – he said. – Today I told the professor what the concept was and calmed him down – he added.
When asked if he had been offered a job or cooperation, he replied: “of course yes.”
– Universities should get involved and take up shares in this company, because they also conduct artificial intelligence research. I made an offer to the professor to coordinate this work, he said.
To the comment that many scientists defended the professor, he replied: “I absolutely agree with that.”
– There was no need to write letters, though. It was enough to ask me, the director of NCBR, what the vision of development was – he emphasized.
Confusion in IDEAS NCBR
At the end of September, Sankowski announced on social media that he was leaving his job at IDEAS NCBR as a research group leader on October 2. In response to this information, six members resigned from the company's scientific council, and several leaders of research groups are considering leaving the institute.
Winners of ERC grants and scientists dealing with artificial intelligence in Poland also asked for reasons for the change in the position of the president of IDEAS NCBR in open letters to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Science.
According to the Ministry of Science, the financial data of the center turned out to be decisive. “The company reported revenues of PLN 173,008, costs of PLN 28,981,973, closing the year with a loss of PLN 28,808,965. Therefore, as a result of the activities of the previous Supervisory Board and Management Board, there is a serious threat to the further operation of the company,” the ministry reported. Critics of the changes at NCBR, however, point out that IDEAS NCBR is not a company established to generate profits, and its task is to support the development of artificial intelligence in Poland.
Main photo source: TVN24