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Artificial intelligence (AI) holds enormous potential specifically for the industrial sector, for blue- and gray-collar workers, not just for office employees. Metinvest Digital is actively developing its expertise in this area to help businesses realistically assess the capabilities of AI technologies, said Maksym Balaniuk, Director of the Innovation and Development Center at Metinvest Digital.
According to him, AI does not replace people but instead creates new roles.
“AI is not a magic pill for all business problems. It’s a powerful tool whose effectiveness depends on data quality, well-organized processes, and professional implementation. At the same time, the cost of such technologies has dropped significantly: if AI-based solutions were hundreds of times more expensive a few years ago, today their development and implementation have become accessible to Ukrainian businesses,” Balaniuk said at the conference “The Role of the Tech Industry in Rebuilding the Country and Forming Ukraine’s New Economy” in Kyiv, organized by the think tank We Build Ukraine.
The event brought together business leaders, educators, tech innovators, and investors to discuss how Ukraine’s IT industry can become a driving force for economic recovery and growth, both during wartime and after victory. Balaniuk spoke at the panel titled “How AI Is Transforming Industry: A New Era of Ukrainian Technology.”
Responding to a question about data standardization, the expert emphasized that Metinvest Digital relies on classical approaches to data quality management and applies global best practices. However, he noted, no artificial intelligence system can independently collect, clean, or structure data without human supervision. It’s a systemic process that must evolve alongside the technology itself.
Balaniuk explained that within the company, AI doesn’t eliminate roles but rather changes their essence and raises skill requirements. It provides employees with opportunities to learn and acquire new competencies faster.
“We’re creating tools and assistants that allow people to handle more tasks. Employees can choose a specific area, complete part of the work, and then deepen their expertise,” he said.
For instance, business analysts are expected to demonstrate a deep understanding of the business, propose solutions, and deliver real impact, rather than merely perform formal tasks.
“My goal is to expand the number of such professionals and initiatives within our company, first and foremost for our parent group, and then for external clients as well,” Balaniuk added.
He noted that AI has not significantly changed the list of roles within the company.
“Engineers, business analysts, and managers remain essential, what changes is the skill set. Since the optimization processes launched in 2022, we haven’t had any roles that AI could displace entirely, but it will definitely transform them,” he said.
The expert pointed out that the company hires young engineers primarily to cultivate specialists with the right work mindset. Moreover, younger professionals already possess familiarity with new technologies and are much faster at developing their skills.
Metinvest Polytechnic, the group’s mining and metallurgical university, plays a key role in this effort by providing students with practical knowledge that prepares them for real market challenges. As a private institution, it can update curricula and teaching methods much faster, often before technologies become outdated, whereas such changes typically occur far more slowly in public universities.
In addition, Metinvest Digital runs a six-month internship program for students. Every year, the company accepts young people for hands-on training, and the best participants are offered full-time positions afterward.
“In recent years, the number of applicants has been enormous, and we’ve had no issues finding talent. We’re very pleased with the results. In fact, we’re planning to keep several interns from the current cohort,” he said.
By contrast, short-term industrial internships in public universities, in his view, often turn into mere formalities: “You can’t teach a student anything meaningful in two weeks. It’s just a simulation of the process to get the required stamp on a document.”
Balaniuk noted that while AI and business process automation create new opportunities for companies, they also bring social risks, particularly for large organizations with complex structures. Even if technology can streamline operations and cut costs, its implementation may have negative effects on people, their positions, and their roles within the company.
“When we talk about AI or any technology, we have to remember that organizations are built around people. They have careers, positions, and reporting structures. So when a tech company proposes a solution that could cut staffing by 50%, social factors can become a serious barrier to implementation,” Balaniuk said.
He emphasized that deploying new technologies requires not only technical readiness and investment but also careful work with people and internal processes to ensure that innovation does not become a source of instability.
