Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1097443
28.03.19 7 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE traffic management, health- care, education, governmental services, and elderly care. On the other hand, the gov- ernment is keen to question the willingness of the private sector to adapt to such tech- nologies. According to the high-level policy document, the possible success stories emerging from public AI pro- jects will hopefully serve as an inspiration to the private sector. Thus, serving as a tes- tament to the technology and further accelerating the pro- gress of AI-based applications. To this end, policy tools will be developed to speed up the adoption, including awareness campaigns to squash AI skep- ticism. Supporting the aforemen- tioned pillars are three stra- tegic enablers: Education and Workforce, Legal and Ethical Framework and Ecosystem Infrastructure. As part of this strategy, policy measures will be designed to equip, train and continuously improve workers across all branches of society, help businesses harness the full extent of AI and update Malta's educational frame- work to the requirements of 'The Fourth Industrial Revo- lution.' Plans to bolster the legal framework and overall infrastructure Much of the success attrib- uted to Malta's blitzkrieg on DLT technologies, rests with the unprecedented ability of the Secretariat to draft up a regulatory approach that sup- ports such emerging technol- ogy. In this case, however, AI raises profound questions on ethics and legality raging from national security, commercial interests and a possible dis- ruption to the 1949 Geneva Convention. In light of this, Malta will now look to devel- op a regulatory approach that supports its AI ambitions. Such plans will include the development of a National Ethics Framework, the explo- ration of a regulatory sandbox which will provide exemp- tions, clear liability provisions that provide clarity and pro- tection and a separate provi- sion to clarify the ownership of intellectual property rights in AI- generate outputs. In addition to the above, the government shall asses the current state of enablers vital- ly needed the success of an AI ecosystem. Subsequently, it plans to de- sign a blueprint of data infra- structure projects which will allow AI to flourish. Careful consideration will be given to infrastructural projects that include access to resources, technology, platforms, institu- tional infrastructure, and ex- ternal partners. The Malta.AI workshop was attended and addressed by Irina Orssich, author of Coor- dination Plan on Artificial In- telligence within the EU Com- mission, who praised Malta's proactive stance in Artificial Intelligence. "It is a document which is brought down to Malta's reali- ty. The way Malta was looking at its strength and trying to build from there and see all the elements, that is very interest- ing and it is complementing to what the EU is looking for", Orssich said. "AI is not magic, it's bound to fail and we need to know how exactly it failed," said Angelo Dalli. In his panel intervention, he made reference to the recent Boeing 737 MAX debacle, stressing out the need of understanding the basis of a decision of AI technologies, "to avoid any possible backlash against AI technologies, we need to understand the rationale behind the decision," stressed Dalli. According to academic Greta Attard, the Maltese language is quite dynamic and thus the industry needs better access to data in Maltese. "Similar to children," she said, "AI models need to learn about the syntax, morphology, and phonology of a language." If starting blocks aren't good enough this will be very difficult, We shouldn't leave our mother tongue behind just when technology is advancing." During his opening speech, Wayne Grixti, Chair of Malta.AI Taskforce said clearly dismissed the popular perception of AI technologies leading to a humanoid putsch. "AI technologies don't necessarily mean robots or machines will take over the world. It means technologies which will leave an impact on the various factors of society." 'AI is not magic' Better access to data in Maltese needed Scrapping the Terminator scenario 3 4 5 "Our ambition is to create the conditions for AI to a springboard from Malta to the world." Parliamentary Secretary Silvio Schembri explained that the Malta. AI Taskforce identified three strategic pillars; Investment, Start-ups and Innovation, Public Sector Adoption and Private Sector Adoption, as well as three Enablers; Education and Workforce, a Legal and Ethical Framework, and Ecosystem Infrastructure. "These will serve as the building blocks of Malta's national AI Strategy with an explicit aim to put Malta amongst the top 10 nations with the highest impact national AI programme," he said.