Beeline Kazakhstan Develops First Kazakh-Language AI Model

Deploys AI to Automate Digital Services Support,
Open Source Technology for National Adoption

Almaty, Kazakhstan, 16 May 2023 – VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq: VEON, Euronext Amsterdam: VEON), a global digital operator that provides converged connectivity and online services, today announced that its Beeline Kazakhstan operating company has developed a Kazakh-language AI language model to support digital services.  Kaz-RoBERTA-conversational, or BeeBERT for short, is a generative AI technology that will support the customer experience on Beeline’s digital applications, and enable the further development of artificial intelligence-based solutions in Kazakh language.  

BeeBERT is currently being deployed to enhance customer care on Beeline Kazakhstan’s popular digital applications that include BeeTV, one of the largest OTT entertainment platform in Kazakhstan, hitter, Beeline’s  local music app, and Simply, the nation’s first neobank.  The AI module automatically understands the needs and problems of customers and provide solutions where possible, or escalate to a call centre when needed.  BeeBERT will also be used on the beeline.kz website, in the My Beeline application, and to support messaging on other popular instant messaging applications.

"Our digital services are seeing a rapid uptake in Kazakhstan across entertainment and financial services, and BeeBERT has the potential to massively improve the consumer experience while supporting the use of our native Kazakh language,” explains Evgeniy Nastradin, CEO of Beeline Kazakhstan. "Innovation is at the core of Beeline Kazakhstan’s success and the development of BeeBERT underlines not only our technological know-how, but also our dedication to use technology to advance local development.”

Beeline Kazakhstan has made BeeBERT available to all under an open source Apache licence to encourage its wider adoption.  The AI module is available for download and with its small size, it can be embedded in desktop and mobile applications where Kazakh language comprehension is required.  The AI module has already demonstrated an increase in the quality of recognition of customer requests. 

"We hope that our example will encourage other companies and teams to publish their developments for closer cooperation that advances the usage of technologies in Kazakh language,” says Bexultan Sagyndyk, one of the BeeBERT developers.

BeeBERT has been created by Beeline Kazakhstan’s developers using a Google core neural network.  The team behind BeeBERT is now developing next generation generative language models to be trained in the local language, generating responses that take into account the context of the correspondence with the user.

About VEON
VEON is a global digital operator that currently provides converged connectivity and online services to nearly 160 million customers in six dynamic markets. We are transforming people’s lives, empowering individuals, creating opportunities for greater digital inclusion and driving economic growth across countries that are home to more than 7% of the world’s population. Headquartered in Amsterdam, VEON is listed on Nasdaq and Euronext. For more information visit: https://www.veon.com.

Disclaimer
This release contains "forward-looking statements,” as the phrase is defined in Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and include statements relating to, among other things, VEON’s digital initiatives. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which VEON cannot predict with accuracy and some of which VEON might not even anticipate. The forward-looking statements contained in this release speak only as of the date of this release. VEON does not undertake to publicly update, except as required by U.S. federal securities laws, any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after such dates or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. There can be no assurance that the initiatives referred to above will be successful.

Contact information
VEON
Senior Communications Manager
Anna Ivanova-Galitsina
pr@veon.com

TUVA Partners
Managing Partner
Julian Tanner

Julian.tanner@tuvapartners.com