President of Kazakhstan Qasym-Jomart Toqaev, speaking at celebrations marking Teacher's Day, stressed the importance of reading books and spoke about major artificial intelligence events held in Astana last week, the website infohub.kz reports.
The head of state noted that the AI & Digital Bridge — 2026 forum and a meeting of the Council for the Development of Artificial Intelligence were held with the participation of prominent specialists and experts. At that gathering, it was noted that Kazakhstan has achieved impressive results in this exceptionally important field. However, according to the President, this is no reason to rest on one's laurels, especially given the unprecedentedly high pace of development in artificial intelligence and new technologies. This is the demand of the times.
In addition, the capital hosted the Astana AI Film Festival for the first time, an event that can truly be called cutting-edge and innovative. It was on the sidelines of this landmark event that the potential of artificial intelligence in cinema was presented for the first time anywhere in the world. In other words, the festival confirmed that the era of traditional filmmaking is gradually fading into the past. Filmmakers can now create full-fledged films without turning to officials, producers and sponsors for support. That is precisely why the film festival in Astana took on a genuinely global character and drew the attention of the entire world community, the head of state emphasized.
At the same time, according to the President, in an era of advanced technology one must never forget the importance of books. In this connection, he called it a shared task to explain the values of a reading culture to the younger generation.
"There is a wonderful saying by an outstanding son of the Kazakh people, Abish Kekilbayev: 'Adamdy adam etken - kitap, adamzat etken - kitapkhana' (A book made a human of man, a library united people into humanity). A book awakens in each of us a thirst for knowledge, moral values, wisdom and diligence. Reading is a kind of spiritual shield that protects citizens, above all young people, from superficial judgments and the endless flow of information. In this connection, in May of this year I signed a decree 'On Measures for the Development of a Reading Culture and the Formation of a Reading Nation.' To implement it, the government will adopt a corresponding Concept by the end of this year," Qasym-Jomart Toqaev said.