The Government announces an Artificial Intelligence Plan to be developed by the Science Ministry
President Sebastián Piñera has charged the Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation Minister, Andrés Couve, with developing an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Plan to help Chile to successfully participate in the technological revolution. The initiative involves the launch of a policy and an action plan in April 2020.
Following a meeting with the Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation Minister, Andrés Couve, and the Science Undersecretary, Carolina Torrealba, President Piñera has announced that the government has set in motion a plan to enable Chile to successfully participate in the fourth technological revolution. The Science Ministry will be responsible for developing this plan, which entails innovations in various areas, such as healthcare, education and production.
The President said, "artificial intelligence is good news because it will provide us with more tools to address the tremendous challenges ahead. It is a topic that is going to change the lives of each and every one of our fellow Chileans.”
The first outcome will be the April 2020 unveiling of a National Artificial Intelligence Policy and Action Plan to be developed by the Science Ministry’s Future Unit, along with representatives from the Economy, Development and Tourism Ministry, Social Development Ministry, the Labor and Education Ministries, the Ministry Secretary General of the Presidency and the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (Conicyt).
Science Minister Andrés Couve said "we are living at a time of great opportunities and new challenges, which we must face with determination and leadership. Artificial intelligence has the potential to impact the daily lives of each and every one of us within increasingly shorter timescales. It has therefore now become one of the most pressing challenges for countries seeking to transform technological advances into comprehensive human wellbeing and development.”
Minister Couve added, "to date more than 27 countries have announced or published national Artificial Intelligence strategies, mainly in order to take advantage of the opportunities it provides for people. However, in Latin America, Mexico is the only country to have published its Artificial Intelligence strategy. This plan will take us to the forefront of the region and will strengthen ongoing initiatives undertaken by different ministries and services, where we have already identified over 30 measures at various stages of development.”
As the President explained, this plan will address three main areas: the elements required to enable AI, such as specialist human skills, fiber optic networks and computational infrastructure; how Artificial Intelligence should be developed and used in Chile; and the ethics, standards, security and regulations that should apply to this technology.
In terms of timeframes, a survey of Artificial Intelligence in Chile will be prepared, together with a base discussion document regarding an Artificial Intelligence Policy, which will be available in December this year. Then a general participatory process will be initiated in January 2020 that will include academia, private business and the public sector.
Then, following these previous stages, the National Artificial Intelligence Policy for Chile will be published during April 2020, together with an Action Plan detailing the measures required and their corresponding deadlines.
At the international level, Chile will attend the next G7 meeting as an invited country. There the governments of France and Canada are going to propose the setting up of an International Panel on Artificial Intelligence (IPAI), which will include Chile.