Artificial intelligence can be used not only to detect failures and attacks that have already occurred, but also to forecast disasters — from earthquakes and infrastructure accidents to cyber threats. This shift from response to early warning became one of the central themes of an international workshop that opened at Yerevan State University with the support of NATO’s Science for Peace and Security Programme.

AI can help create a regional disaster prevention system

Yerevan State University Rector Hovhannes Hovhannisyan considers the ability to forecast threats to be one of the main advantages of artificial intelligence.

“Today, one of the most important tasks is forecasting disasters or attacks, and this is exactly where artificial intelligence can help us build more effective monitoring and data analysis systems,” he said.

According to him, this is not only about the technical ability to detect an emerging problem more quickly. The task is to move from response to prevention. At the same time, Hovhannisyan emphasized that it is impossible to create an effective system solely at the level of a single country or organization. Forecasting large-scale threats requires data sharing, despite existing issues related to data storage and sovereignty.

“It is very important to share common data in order to prevent disasters through joint cooperation. Otherwise, individual countries or organizations will not be able to cope with the challenges we face,” the rector noted, referring to recent events in Nepal and suggesting that the existence of an effective early warning system could have reduced the number of victims.

For Armenia, the topic of early warning is not an abstract task

Deputy Minister of High-Tech Industry and AI Tatevik Aslanyan recalled the 1988 Spitak earthquake, emphasizing that issues of infrastructure resilience and disaster prevention are linked for the country not only to scientific research.

“We live with real systemic risk, aging infrastructure, and in a region where crises rarely recognize borders,” she said.

According to her, such areas as anomaly detection in energy and water networks, reliable data sharing, earthquake forecasting, and prediction of cascading infrastructure failures should become part of the country’s practical technological agenda.

Aslanyan also said that these tasks must be taken into account in shaping the AI Office currently being created. At the same time, Armenia expects not simply to adopt ready-made technologies, but to develop solutions together with international partners.

“Armenia has talent, infrastructure, and ambition. What we value most is cooperation that will help turn the results of this workshop and all subsequent events into real projects,” the deputy minister said.

The resilience of critical infrastructure requires more than just technology

Gianluigi Greco, Rector of the University of Calabria (Italy), said that the topic of using artificial intelligence for monitoring and early warning in critical infrastructure is of strategic importance today. According to him, critical infrastructure is becoming increasingly interconnected while at the same time being exposed to natural hazards, technological accidents, and, in particular, cyber threats.

He stressed that in the coming years one of the key tasks should be to increase the resilience of society and critical infrastructure to various threats. However, according to Greco, technology alone is not enough for this. A comprehensive approach is needed, including modern measurement and monitoring methods, secure data sharing, and predictive models. “Strengthening resilience requires not only technology, but also effective measurement methods, secure data sharing, and predictive models,” Greco said.

It is precisely the combination of these areas, in his view, that makes international cooperation especially important.

It is important to keep people at the center

Italian Ambassador to Armenia Alessandro Ferranti focused attention not so much on the technical capabilities of AI as on how people should interact with rapidly developing technologies. Ferranti is convinced that rapid technological development requires not only new solutions, but also strategic thinking — the ability to plan the future in advance and assess how scientific achievements can be used to solve global problems.

In this context, he also highlighted cooperation between scientists, state institutions, and the professional community.