Astana, Kazakhstan — July 16, 2026 — The Institute of Smart Systems and Artificial Intelligence (ISSAI) at Nazarbayev University presented its latest artificial intelligence developments at the ISSAI Connect event, organized for media representatives and partners. Held at Önergy Hub, a technology-and-creative space and longtime ISSAI partner in innovation and technology entrepreneurship, the event showcased how AI solutions developed in Kazakhstan help solve practical problems, support the development of the Kazakh language, and ensure data protection.
The
event brought together journalists, technology partners, researchers,
government representatives, business figures, and members of the Nazarbayev
University community. Guests were shown demonstrations of ISSAI Voice Studio,
MangiSoz App, Joldas AI, and the Qolda family of small language models (SLMs).
Participants also viewed an exhibition of projects developed by participants of
the ISSAI Summer Research Program, showcasing the institute's latest scientific
achievements and educational initiatives.
Opening
the event, ISSAI founder and director Dr. Huseyin Atakan Varol emphasized the
importance of creating artificial intelligence that accounts for the
characteristics of local languages and the needs of society.
"Artificial
intelligence becomes truly powerful only when it deeply understands the people
who use it. ISSAI's mission is to build Kazakhstan's own AI models, products,
and services using local expertise. Drawing on the best global technological
practices and cutting-edge research, our team develops solutions that reflect
our country's linguistic and cultural characteristics. By creating open,
world-class technologies adapted to the Kazakhstani context, we are not merely
participating in the development of the global AI ecosystem — we are shaping
our own agenda and setting a benchmark for countries facing similar
challenges."
ISSAI
Voice Studio: A New Generation of Speech AI Technology
One
of the key developments presented at ISSAI Connect was the ISSAI Voice Studio
platform, which combines AI technologies for automatic dubbing, emotional
speech synthesis, speaker diarization, and other modern speech solutions.
ISSAI
Voice Studio enables automatic dubbing while preserving the timbre and
emotional tone of the original speaker's voice. The platform also delivers
natural text-to-speech and automatically separates the speech of multiple
conversation participants, producing structured transcripts of meetings,
interviews, podcasts, and conferences.
During
the demonstration, journalists were shown a film clip automatically dubbed into
Kazakh while preserving lip-sync, natural intonation, and emotional
expressiveness. In a second demonstration, the system separated the speech of
several simultaneously speaking participants in real time, automatically
attributing lines to individual speakers. This clearly demonstrated the
platform's potential for media production, content localization, and
professional communications.
MangiSoz
App: Overcoming Language Barriers
ISSAI
also presented MangiSoz
App, a multilingual mobile application for speech recognition, translation,
and automatic transcription, designed for everyday communication, meetings,
conferences, and international cooperation.
One
of the app's key features is a split-screen two-way translation mode, which
allows two speakers of different languages to communicate naturally, with each
user seeing the conversation in their own language.
The
app also automatically converts speech to text, making it a convenient tool for
journalists, researchers, students, and business professionals.
During
the demonstration, attendees watched two people converse freely in different
languages while the app translated their conversation in real time, vividly
showing how AI can make multilingual communication simple and convenient.
Joldas
AI: Making the World More Accessible
Another
technology presented at ISSAI Connect was the Joldas
AI mobile app, designed to support blind and visually impaired users.
Combining computer vision and speech processing technologies, the app helps
users better navigate their surroundings by providing voice descriptions in
Kazakh.
Using
a smartphone camera, Joldas AI can recognize road and informational signs, read
text, identify objects, describe surrounding spaces, and voice the information
it gathers in a natural voice.
During
the demonstration, the app successfully recognized navigation signs and
informational displays, clearly showcasing its potential to improve the
accessibility of public spaces and support greater independent mobility for
people with visual impairments.
Qolda
SLMs: Powerful AI Without an Internet Connection
ISSAI
also presented Qolda,
a family of small language models (SLMs) capable of running entirely on local
devices without an internet connection.
Qolda
is being developed as part of a targeted funding project by the Ministry of
Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan titled
"Development of a Large Language Model (LLM) to Support the Kazakh
Language and Technological Progress."
The
project is being carried out by a consortium of scientific organizations that
includes ISSAI, al-Farabi Kazakh National University, the Institute of
Information and Computational Technologies, the Akhmet Baitursynuly Institute
of Linguistics, and the Shaisultan Shayakhmetov National Scientific and
Practical Center "Til-Qazyna."
Unlike
large cloud-based language models, Qolda processes data directly on the user's
device. This allows organizations to analyze confidential documents without
transmitting data over the internet, ensuring a high level of information
security and personal data protection.
The
model is optimized for the Kazakh language and local context, making it
especially valuable for government agencies, healthcare organizations, the
financial sector, and enterprises working with sensitive information.
During
the demonstration, the internet connection was deliberately disabled, after
which Qolda processed a lengthy document and produced a summary within seconds
— a clear demonstration of modern AI models' ability to function fully offline.
According
to Amina Baikenova, ISSAI's Deputy Director for Products and External
Relations, all the technologies presented were built with practical application
in mind.
"Our
goal is to build AI products that solve real problems, not showcase technology
for its own sake. Whether they help people with visual impairments navigate the
world more freely, enable secure document processing without internet access,
make multilingual communication simple, or expand the ability to create quality
media content in Kazakh — all of these solutions show that artificial
intelligence can be a practical tool that improves people's everyday
lives."
Training
the Next Generation of AI Researchers
Beyond
showcasing its AI technologies, ISSAI Connect highlighted the institute's
commitment to developing the next generation of AI specialists.
Since
2021, ISSAI has run an annual Summer Research Program that brings together school and
university students from Kazakhstan and abroad to work on cutting-edge AI
projects under the guidance of the institute's researchers.
At
this event, program participants presented prototype research projects and AI
applications developed together with ISSAI mentors. Visitors had the
opportunity to meet young researchers who are already contributing to the
development of artificial intelligence in Kazakhstan.
Throughout
the event, guests visited interactive demonstration zones, tested the featured
technologies, spoke with the researchers behind the developments, and explored
the projects of Summer Research Program participants.
By
developing AI systems adapted to Kazakhstan's linguistic and technological
characteristics and investing in the training of future specialists, ISSAI
continues to pursue its mission of advancing sovereign artificial intelligence
and creating open technologies, contributing to the global scientific
community.
Source: https://issai.nu.edu.kz/ru/2026/07/16/issai-connect-представил-ии-технологии-созданны/