Cyprus aims to develop at least 3,000 artificial intelligence (AI) professionals by 2032 and establish itself as a regional hub for AI skills, Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, Nicodemos Damianou, said on Tuesday, outlining the country’s plans to expand AI education, training and adoption.
Speaking at a panel discussion titled ‘AI: Driving growth or deepening inequality?’ at the 22nd Annual Economist Cyprus Summit in Nicosia, Damianou presented the main priorities of the National AI Strategy 2032, stressing that Cyprus’s objective was not simply to compete in the global AI race but to promote its practical adoption in areas where it could generate the greatest value.
He announced three initiatives aimed at strengthening skills and widening access to the technology: a Cyprus AI Literacy Framework, which will introduce AI and critical thinking into schools while keeping teachers in control; a National AI Skills Observatory, designed to align training with labour-market needs; and FutureAI CY, which will offer modular reskilling opportunities for workers and small businesses.
These initiatives will be part of what Damianou described as an ‘AI Social Contract’, under which technology should empower people rather than quietly replace them.
He stressed the need to ensure that the benefits of AI were shared more widely, warning that access to the technology was becoming a new source of inequality.
‘The digital divide is becoming an intelligence divide,’ he said, noting that fewer than one in five working-age people worldwide currently use AI, while 2.2 billion people remain offline.
He also highlighted the impact of AI on employment, particularly among younger people entering the labour market, and called for a shift towards ‘pro-worker AI’.
Damianou also called for greater access to open AI models and shared computing infrastructure, arguing that companies benefiting from AI should contribute to widening access.
‘AI will drive growth. Whether it deepens inequality is a choice and we have time to act,’ he said.
AI access key to preventing new inequalities, Greek official says
Access to AI and, more importantly, the ability to use it effectively will be key to preventing new inequalities, Greece’s Secretary General for Information Systems and Digital Governance, Dimosthenis Anagnostopoulos, said.
Speaking at the same panel discussion, Anagnostopoulos said AI offered powerful tools for increasing productivity but also carried a significant risk of concentrating economic power in the hands of a few.
Governments should act as enablers of AI adoption in both the public and private sectors, rather than merely as regulators, he said.
Referring to disparities in AI adoption, he cited figures showing that in 2025 around 50-55% of large European enterprises used AI tools, compared with just 17% of small businesses. The rate was approximately 42% in Denmark, while Greece and Cyprus were close to 9%.
Anagnostopoulos presented Greece’s efforts to broaden access to AI, saying 60,000 licences for digital tools had been provided to public employees, while 30,000 employees had received training. Free training courses were also made available to the public.
Referring to AI infrastructure, Anagnostopoulos said Greece’s Daedalus supercomputer, ranked 31st globally, was expected to begin offering AI services, training and model-running capabilities the following month. He also referred to Pharos, an ecosystem designed to develop AI models and promote their use, describing such capabilities as important not only for Greece but also for the EU.