Artificial intelligence has become a “natural” extension of Malta embracing Blockchain technology, according to Mr Goertzel, the chief scientist of Hanson Robotics, which created Sophia the humanoid robot. Mr Goertzel and Sophia feature in the third episode of Lovin Blockchain.

“There’s a lot of directions which I think are clear but which ones make the most sense for Malta to prioritise remains to be discovered,” said Mr Goertzel, who is also the founder and CEO of SingularityNet, which has been appointed to Malta’s AI taskforce.

Mr Goertzel said it was positive that Malta was reaching out to international AI experts like SingularityNet to chart the way forward.

His sentiments were echoed by a Maltese AI entrepreneur Angelo Dalli. He said Blockchain and AI were “following the exact same pattern” of the gaming industry in Malta, “just at a more accelerated pace”.

Mr Dalli said AI used to be a particularly narrow field of study but was now broadening into both the consumer and business markets.

“Anything that is laborious – that takes a lot of time – you’ll be able to automate it a little bit better,” he said, pointing out that this was already being applied on a small scale with iPhones and virtual assistants.

Mr Dalli warned that Malta would face a lot of competition worldwide but the island could still have staying power thanks to governmental support and the fact that it is “a nice island”.

Lovin Blockchain also spoke to Sunny Dhillon, an entrepreneur from San Francisco, who said there were lots of things Silicon Valley could learn from the way Malta was operating in the Blockchain space, particularly when it comes to giving certainty to investors and entrepreneurs.

Lovin Blockchain also spoke to David Schranz from Ledger Projects, about a Blockchain application for notarial deeds, Viktor Kochetov from Kyrrex (a cryptocurrency exchange based on desktop) and James Muscat Azzopardi from Credence Advisory.

Lovin Blockchain is sponsored by OKEx, CFX, Kyrrex and Finance Malta.

​Watch Lovin Blockchain Episode 1

​Watch Lovin Blockchain Episode 2

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Chris Peregin

Christian is an award-winning journalist and entrepreneur who founded Lovin Malta, a new media company dedicated to creating positive impact in society. He is passionate about justice, public finances and finding ways to build a better future.