VEZILKA Addresses the Impact of AI on Human Thinking in Ljubljana

On 22 October 2026, Professor Dimitar Trajanov, Project Director of VEZILKA, gave the lecture “Cognitive Obesity: Will AI Do to Our Minds What Machines Did to Our Bodies and How Do We Stay Mentally Fit?” at the Faculty of Computer and Information Science (FRI), University of Ljubljana, at the invitation of the Slovenian AI Factory (SLAIF). The invitation was an opportunity to share VEZILKA’s ideas on the role of AI in society with colleagues from the Slovenian AI community. The one-hour, on-site workshop addressed a question that is becoming central for everyone working with artificial intelligence: what happens to human thinking when machines can do so much of it for us.

Drawing a parallel with the industrial age, when machines relieved people of physical labour and, in doing so, created the problem of physical inactivity, Professor Trajanov asked whether generative AI could do the same to the mind, taking over writing, reasoning, and problem solving so effectively that the skills behind them begin to weaken. His answer was not to avoid AI, but to use it deliberately: as a training partner rather than a replacement, with education and workplaces designed to keep people mentally active while they benefit from what the technology offers.

The topic sits at the heart of VEZILKA’s mission. As the AI Factory Antenna of North Macedonia, VEZILKA gives companies, startups, researchers, and the public sector access to European top-tier compute, and it is equally committed to building the people who use it: through AI courses, summer schools, hackathons, internships, and support for the responsible use of AI. Bringing more AI into society only creates lasting value if it makes people more capable, not more dependent, and that principle guides how VEZILKA designs its training and services.

VEZILKA’s work reflects the ambition behind the project: a North Macedonia that not only uses AI but creates it, and keeps its talent building here.