4SIM: Over 70,000 Azerbaijani citizens gained free access to Coursera

More than 70,000 citizens of Azerbaijan have received free access to 21,000 online courses on the Coursera platform, including programs on artificial intelligence, Executive Director of the Center for Analysis and Coordination of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4SIM), Fariz Jafarov, said at the CAMCA Regional Forum 2026 in Baku, Report informs.

According to him, a number of programs aimed at developing digital skills and training personnel in the field of artificial intelligence are being implemented in Azerbaijan.

"For more than three years, we have been providing free access to the Coursera platform to more than 70,000 citizens of Azerbaijan. They can study more than 21,000 online courses, including a large number of programs related to artificial intelligence," Jafarov said.

He reported that more than 3,000 courses have been translated into the Azerbaijani language with the help of artificial intelligence, calling this one of the positive examples of the technology's application.

According to Jafarov, an agreement was recently signed with OpenAI, which will allow more than 500,000 Azerbaijani students to study artificial intelligence.

"We also recently signed agreements with SpaceX AI, Chrome, and other companies. New projects and partnerships continue to come to the region," he noted.

The Executive Director of 4SIM emphasized that human resource potential is of great importance for the development of artificial intelligence.

"Therefore, we are changing the curricula in schools and teaching students new skills. Many joint double-degree programs with various universities are being implemented in Azerbaijan," Jafarov said.

He also spoke about the creation of the Sabah City Innovation Hub in Azerbaijan.

"Recently, in the presence of the President, we opened the Sabah City Innovation Hub. We are trying to create a kind of Silicon Valley of Azerbaijan in a small area of 20 hectares," he stated.

Three universities and more than 30 laboratories are located on the territory of the hub. Over 100 startups are already working here, and more than 100 IT companies plan to locate their units here.

"Thus, we want to ensure interaction between industry and science. Taking into account the needs of business, we strive to connect universities and startups with the necessary knowledge and practical experience," Jafarov noted.

He also drew attention to the region's potential in the field of artificial intelligence development.

"If we consider the region as a whole, we are talking about approximately 150 million people. At the same time, its combined potential is almost $700 billion," the head of 4SIM said.

According to him, the countries of the region cannot compete with the US and China in the creation of artificial intelligence technologies, but they are capable of actively implementing them in various spheres of life.

Jafarov emphasized the need for investments in the creation of data centers and computing capacities.

"In the world of artificial intelligence, there are three categories of participants: creators - makers, users - takers, and those who form the rules of the game - shapers," he explained.

According to Jafarov, the US and China mainly belong to the category of makers, developing a large number of products based on artificial intelligence.

"Countries of the region can be active users of these technologies, simultaneously developing their own large language models and global tools. Thus, they can also become shapers at the regional level," he concluded.