Italy has a new unicorn, the first in the artificial intelligence sector. It was created by Uljan Sharka, 32, an Italian citizen born in Albania and founder of iGenius, a deeptech company that just announced a 650 million euro round. Bringing its valuation to over 1 billion.
Pioneer, started years ago when artificial intelligence was not yet “in fashion,” created Italy’s first generative AI model. Named Italia, it is over 90 percent trained in Italian. “It has incredible linguistic accuracy.”
He succeeded, despite the difficulties. “The European and American markets said it would be impossible.” The secret? A mix of factors. “An extraordinary team- I’m just the spokesperson for I-Genius the competitive advantage of having started first, and the Leonardo super computer.” In fact, the Long Language Model (LLM) Italy was trained at the Cineca consortium, an Italian excellence that brings together 118 research organizations, ministries and universities, and which houses the Leonardo super computer. The seventh most powerful in the world and the second most powerful in artificial intelligence.
“We created an enterprise to have an impact on the world, not for personal interest.” So in an interview where the topic is artificial intelligence, the words that recur most often are instead: person, team, ethics, humanity.
“We are at the beginning of a new era. Artificial intelligence, before being a technological revolution, is a social revolution. It changes everything. Generative AI for the first time democratizes software. Through human language, it makes it accessible to everyone. We can finally be free, autonomous, eliminate the skills gap and have more time.”
“You can choose to use skills and technology to make an impact on the world, or to just make hundreds of millions in revenue. The difference is called ethics.”
Then he looks at you, at which point he asks the question. “Businesses are born to bill, sure. But if you can bill both by doing good and by doing bad, which approach do you choose?”
Mother doctor, father entrepreneur, Sharka absorbs values during his childhood. “The family context in which I lived formed much of who I am. The value of ethics, the desire to create progress for humanity, purpose, respect for others and diversity are the basis of my upbringing. I grew up with these values, and as I became first an adult and then an entrepreneur, I realized that they are the only things that matter.”
At 16, Sharka arrived in Italy to study. “I moved like any other boy who moves from one country to another to complete his education.” During his high school years, he discovered a passion for technology. He began by playing games. “I was into games like any kid at that time. When you get into this virtual reality you start thinking about how interesting it could be to create that world. I started to get into programming, with the idea first of modifying game solutions. Then to create new ones.”
In the IT world, he is self-taught. After finishing high school, he participated in an Apple call for talent in Italy. “I came to California to San Jose and a world opened up to me. I started to touch what could be done with programming. I stayed there for three years, and during that time I decided not to enroll in college.”
The experience at Apple reinforced his vision.
“It was enlightening. My role was as a technical coordinator in the Entreprise section. I realized how much Italian culture there is in Apple. Steve Jobs said in many interviews that he was inspired by Olivetti, to him we owe the concept of beauty, ease of use and humanism.”
What will the future look like in 10 years? “We often make the mistake of imagining the future, but that no longer makes sense. With artificial intelligence there are such disruptive and fast-moving scenarios opening up that imagining tomorrow is like ‘setting a limit.’ We need to focus on the present and figure out how to protect and safeguard human rights. To really enter a new era. That of the digital renaissance.“
