# Uljan Sharka

Founder and CEO, Domyn. TIME100 AI 2026, Innovators. He moved from Albania to Italy in 2008 without knowing a word of Italian; now his company leads the EU's Europa frontier AI model consortium. ([podcast.sifted.eu](https://podcast.sifted.eu/1877446/episodes/19670912-domyn-ceo-uljan-sharka-we-re-a-few-quarters-away-from-1bn-arr))

- Born: 1992 ([en.ilsole24ore.com](https://en.ilsole24ore.com/art/frontier-grand-challenge-domyn-to-lead-the-ai-sovrana-project-AIgNTNoD))

- Career: Domyn (Founder and CEO, 2016 to now); Apple (Technical Coordinator, 2012–2015) ([domyn.com](https://www.domyn.com/people/uljan-sharka), [podcast.sifted.eu](https://podcast.sifted.eu/1877446/episodes/19670912-domyn-ceo-uljan-sharka-we-re-a-few-quarters-away-from-1bn-arr), [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/uljan), [hbsitaly.org](https://www.hbsitaly.org/?sid=1738&gid=60&pgid=84438&cid=173728&ecid=173728&crid=0&calpgid=3083&calcid=15747))
- TIME profile: https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/uljan-sharka/
- Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/most-influential-people-in-ai/uljan-sharka

- Moved alone from Albania to Italy at 16, in 2008, without knowing a word of Italian. ([podcast.sifted.eu](https://podcast.sifted.eu/1877446/episodes/19670912-domyn-ceo-uljan-sharka-we-re-a-few-quarters-away-from-1bn-arr))
- His first iPhone inspired him to join Apple; with no degree, he got in through Apple's certification program and later worked in Silicon Valley. ([eye4ai.eu](https://eye4ai.eu/from-war-torn-albania-to-ai-unicorn-the-extraordinary-journey-of-uljan-sharka/))
- In 2018 his company iGenius raised $7 million, the largest round ever put in by a group of angel investors in Italy. ([albaniatech.org](https://albaniatech.org/uljan-sharka-with-his-startup-igenius-towards-a-european-unicorn-in-artificial-intelligence/))
- In 2024 the company released Italia, an open-source language model trained only on Italian. ([albaniatech.org](https://albaniatech.org/uljan-sharka-with-his-startup-igenius-towards-a-european-unicorn-in-artificial-intelligence/))
- The European Commission picked a Domyn-led group to build a fully open-source AI model covering all 24 official EU languages. ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/uljan-sharka/))
- Argues AI autonomy is overhyped, calling AI systems nothing more than "digital books" of data. ([axios.com](https://www.axios.com/2026/09/28/ai-domyn-uljan-sharka-openai-anthropic-safety-lying))