YEREVAN. – “It was a year full of achievements and innovation at PicsArt. In 2017, the company has invested much in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) both for the app improvement and the development of the AI sphere in Armenia in general”, said Mikayel Vardanyan, CTO and General Manager of PicsArt Armenia office.
PicsArt has implemented a number of educational programs in this field. The biggest project of the year, a six-month course on Machine Learning, aimed to train 28 professionals in AI and machine learning. As a result, the training course initiated by PicsArt with the support of BetConstruct, Ucom and ACA (Armenian Code Academy) provided the graduates with employment opportunities in the above mentioned companies.
This year, PicsArt internal AI department has grown to a team of 20 professionals. Mikayel Vardanyan emphasized the importance of data collection and analysis which makes the application of artificial intelligence possible in any industry today.
“For example, we deal with a large amount of data. PicsArt app collects several billion events per day and our users upload several million of images on daily basis. We apply machine learning to these data to understand the preferences of our users. We also use AI for image recognition and analysis,” Vardanyan explained.
In 2017, PicsArt has partnered with a number of well-known companies and individuals to implement various social, educational as well as fun campaigns. In July 2017, Natalia Vodianova, the supermodel and philanthropist, joined PicsArt team as the Head of Aspiration.
PicsArt Armenia office has hosted state officials, musicians and many guests from abroad. Mikayel Vardanyan notes that PicsArt aims to create a new working culture in our country making Armenian employment market more competitive with the world.
One of the biggest achievements of the company this year was to surpass 100 million monthly active users. There are only a handful of consumer applications that reach 100 million active users per month. In addition, the number of monthly active users from Armenia has increased almost three times, while the daily usage of the app has grown twice. Moreover, the PicsArt Animator app was named the most entertaining app of 2017 by Google Play. While, PicsArt Color Paint app was featured in the App Store Best of 2017 list.
Mikayel Vardanyan notes that PicsArt is one of the leaders in term of diversity of the tools in offers. One of the advantages of PicsArt is its 3,000 editing features available in the app enabling users to express themselves by creating unique images.
PicsArt values the development of a tech society. In 2017, around 500 high-school and university students visited the PicsArt Armenian office to participate in a one-day training and learn more about the tech world, various professional opportunities in the IT sector in Armenia, as well as to explore their creativity using the PicsArt app. Next year, PicsArt Armenia office plans to organize similar trainings for the young people from the regions, aiming to motivate them to study and join the growing IT sector of Armenia. These visits inspire young people and raise awareness for their future career path choices.
In 2018, PicsArt will continue to improve the app by the means of AI, targeting to provide personalized content based on user’s preferences. The company will also continue to implement educational programs, collaborate with different universities to competitive AI and ML professionals in Armenia.
