On October 21, the Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SDH), together with Delo mediji and with the Jožef Stefan Institute as expert partner, held an event in Ljubljana on how AI is changing business models, jobs and the competitiveness of companies. Marko Grobelnik said AI is in a phase of exponential growth that did not start yesterday and will continue as long as at least some key parameters keep growing exponentially. He presented the AI ecosystem as eleven layers: rare earths, energy, GPUs, data centres, data, algorithms, models, the model environment, agents, applications and physical AI. He explained where Slovenia sits in this chain and noted that applications are the layer where value is added and money is made. Blaž Kažič presented how the Institute built a generative AI system for SDH. It runs inside SDH's own environment, and the agent has limited access to the database. Every figure it reports must come with a source, and report preparation has dropped from a day to a few hours or minutes. Generating is cheap, he noted, but verifying is not. The event also featured the national AI Factory and supercomputers, Telekom Slovenije, SIJ and Hiproject, which brings humanoid robots to Slovenian companies.
On September 29, TV Slovenija launched Krasni novi um (Brave New Mind), a weekly series exploring AI from many angles, including ethics, personal data, how the technology works, and its opportunities and pitfalls. The series is hosted by Nina Cijan in the studio and Alen Mastnak in the field. Marko Grobelnik of the Jožef Stefan Institute appears in the series. He says that within about five years it won’t be unusual to meet humanoid robots on the street. In the first episode he adds that AI is developing so fast that it is thankless to name the current best model, though American models are among the leaders for now, and that robots are what comes next. The show airs on Tuesdays at 17:50 on TV SLO 1.
In recent weeks, leaders and former employees of major tech companies have issued increasingly alarming statements that AI models are slipping out of control and that development should slow down. Delo asked two Slovenian AI experts, Marko Grobelnik and Ivan Bratko, to comment on these claims and on how real the risk of losing control over AI is.
At the 61st Draga study days in Opčine near Trieste, Marko Grobelnik joined a panel on AI as a driver of epochal change, alongside professor Andrej Flogie and entrepreneur Jan Macarol, moderated by Breda Susič. Grobelnik said the real technological break happened only in the last three years, when AI moved from the background of digital services into a tool anyone can use directly. He likened it to a magic wand that can grant any number of wishes, but without ethics of its own. Tasks that once took months can now be done in a day or even minutes. He also noted that where people once taught computers, AI systems now improve and learn on their own. That makes it crucial who uses AI, for what purpose, and under which rules.
Bloomberg Adria looked at China’s national AI strategy, built around Huawei, domestic chip production and robotics, with Beijing supporting its AI sector on the stock market. The article draws on Marko Grobelnik, AI researcher at the Jožef Stefan Institute and one of Slovenia’s leading AI experts. He points out that China’s chip industry still lacks many of the components and tools it needs for full technological independence and to compete on equal terms with the United States.
Four experts recently shared their predictions for Slovenia in the year 2061, detailing how climate change, technology, and social shifts will reshape daily life over the next 35 years. A major focus of their vision involves artificial intelligence and the job market. AI expert Marko Grobelnik warns that society is moving toward a reality where "work is decoupling from earnings." As automated systems and advanced robotics take over traditional jobs, Grobelnik emphasizes that redefining how people make a living when machines do the labor will be a massive challenge. Economist Sašo Polanec adds that the real test will be learning to use AI independently without becoming entirely dependent on global tech giants. Alongside these technological shifts, the country will face serious environmental and social pressures. Climatologist Lučka Kajfež Bogataj warns that Slovenia will experience much warmer temperatures and more extreme weather, which will threaten the economy if the country doesn't adapt quickly. At the same time, anthropologist Dan Podjed cautions against a trend he calls "crisisolation"—where people use technology to retreat into isolated, comfortable bubbles, losing touch with their communities. Ultimately, the experts agree that Slovenia's success will depend entirely on how well the nation balances these rapid advancements with human and environmental needs.
Modern football is packed with data, using algorithms to track everything from a player's fitness to the probability of a goal. Yet, despite all this technology, the sport remains beautifully unpredictable. Speaking with the Slovenian media outlet Delo, Marko Grobelnik, a leading AI researcher at the Jožef Stefan Institute, highlighted a fascinating contrast between artificial intelligence and football. Grobelnik, who spends his career using data to forecast trends, noted that while both AI and football analytics try to find patterns to guess the next move, they have opposite goals. An algorithm is designed to eliminate uncertainty, whereas football lives and breathes on it. Data can show which player is faster or more expensive, but it can never predict the human spirit of an underdog team. Grobelnik points out that if we could calculate every score in advance, nobody would watch the World Cup. The true magic of the game lies in its errors, surprises, and unexpected heroes—moments when reality refuses to follow a computer model.