Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1212321
20.02.2020 8 OPINION Alexiei Dingli Prof Alexiei Dingli is a Professor of AI at the University of Malta and has been conducting research and working in the field of AI for more than two decades, assisting different companies to implement AI solutions. He forms part of the Malta.AI task-force, set up by the Maltese government, aimed at making Malta one of the top AI countries in the world Creating a world-class AI strategy in 10 steps T he world is currently competing in a global Artificial Intelligence (AI) race. Countries are pumping billions of dollars every year to try to gain global supremacy. ey are well aware that whoever is on top of the game will benefit from signif- icant economic benefits. us, the race is on, for different countries (like the US or China) or even economic blocks (like the EU) to become global leaders. e following are the steps adopted by Malta to create its strategy: Step 1: Set up a national task- force e first thing which the government of Malta did was to appoint a national task-force aimed with creating the "Mal- ta.ai strategy". e members of the task-force came from different walks of life and brought to the table a right mix of experience and enthusiasm. One could find seasoned academics, experienced administrators, legal ex- perts, bureaucrats, entrepreneurs and policy coordinators amongst others. Furthermore, to assist this task-force, there were other organisations and var- ious subcommittees whose task was to focus on specific topics. Step 2: Aim high When competing in a global race, one has to aim high and then find a way to reach that goal. In the case of the Malta. ai strategy, the task of the National Task- force was to make Malta one of the top 10 countries in AI worldwide. Not a triv- ial task! However, the country had already its fair share of successes in the past. e past decades saw the setting up of var- ious successful industries such as the Online Gaming, Financial, Farmaceuti- cal and the Blockchain industries. Step 3: Be realistic Setting high goals is easy, but one needs to keep one's feet on the ground. We knew that we couldn't compete with other countries on the financial front. China will be investing $100 billion in AI in the coming decade. Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States are closing behind. So we decided to find a niche which would suit our particular situation. e idea of the AI launchpad came from the fact that we consider Malta as an Island state having all the dynamics of a typical country but geographically confined to a small space. ese condi- tions make it easier and cheaper to test new technologies, validate them and then deploy them onto the global mar- ket. Furthermore, the fact that Malta is a European Country with a highly educat- ed workforce and located close to North Africa & the Middle East makes it even more appealing. Our incredible 300 days of sunshine, a varied selection of historical and fun at- tractions together with a Mediterranean lifestyle makes the Island attractive for foreign talents. us, Malta offers a unique package for anyone wanting to deploy AI solu- tions worldwide. Step 4: Identify the enablers e enablers are the fundamental components which make up the strat- egy. Without them, we cannot build AI systems. ese include the underlying infra- structure (such as the broadband con- nectivity), the legal & ethical framework and the education and workforce ena- bler. We believe that we can only build a sol- id AI strategy if we have these enablers in place. Step 5: Identify the stakeholders For any strategy to be successful, all the stakeholders must be involved. e Taskforce needs to build a trusting rela- tionship with the different stakeholders because once the policies are in place, their help is vital for the implementa- tion. us, it is crucial to identify all the organisations or people who can have some sort of involvement. Step 6: Educate the stakeholders Education is vital for an effective strat- egy. Many stakeholders probably heard about AI, they might even know what the acronym stands for, but most of them have no idea what it is. Our surveys show that most people have no idea that they have been us- ing AI-based systems for decades. One thing they know for sure is what Hol- lywood blockbusters fed them, i.e. the evil AI revolution that will take over the world and kill all of humanity. Because of this, it is vital to educate stakeholders, dispel their fears and give them a real picture of what to ex- pect from AI. Step 7: Meet the different stakeholders Once they are informed, the subcom- mittees of the task-force organised var- ious one-to-one meetings with the vari- ous stakeholders. ese meetings involved multiple dis- cussions concerning the way forward, the path to reach our objectives and also how to help people who might be severely affected by the rise of AI (like losing their job). Step 8: Global stocktaking Apart from the local context, it was also essential to have a look at what was happening around us. We are aware that more than 50 countries have their own AI strategy today. Because of this, we wanted to ensure that we were not replicating other peo- ple's approach. Furthermore, we wanted to ensure that our proposal had a unique selling proposition because after all, we wanted to create a strategy which attracts in- vestment to our tiny Island. Step 9: Collate the information After all this work, we collected all the data from both local and international sources. We collated everything in one doc- ument. Some parts of the text were published earlier because we required some additional feedback (like the AI ethical framework). Once we had everything, the final doc- ument went through various iterations whereby we discussed its content and ensured that it satisfies our initial brief. Step 10: Launching the Strategy e last thing left after all this work was actually to launch the strategy. e government accepted our document, it provided funding through the National budget, and we are now in the process of implementing it together with different stakeholders and entities. Achieving such an ambitious task in one year was not an easy goal, but I am glad that we managed successfully. Furthermore, a couple of months af- ter its publication, Tortoise Media has ranked Malta's National Artificial In- telligence Strategy in 10th place out of 54 countries when it comes to Govern- ment Strategies, significantly surpassing countries such as Estonia, Sweden and Austria amongst others. It was very satisfying to get such an impressive result in such a short period. However, this does not mean that we have reached our goal. We still need to improve in other areas. e survey ranks Malta in 17th place when it comes to talent, 36th and 25th in research and development, respec- tively. However, the result is very encourag- ing; it places Malta on the international map of AI and stirs us in the right di- rection towards becoming a global AI launchpad.