Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1308523
8 OPINION 12.11.2020 I n the budget speech, the government waxed lyrically saying it will promote inno- vative technologies, such as VR, augmented reality, 3D printing and quantum and high-perfor- mance computing. e much-vaunted AI project will be continuing but little de- tails were given how and who are the experts leading this ini- tiative. Perhaps TechMT, will be beefed up to attract internation- al capital funds and AI evange- lists to place Malta on the map. Some may remember former prime minister Joseph Muscat giving a speech two years ago at the Delta conference to thou- sands of delegates, when he talked about his vision to regu- late Artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IOT) in an all-encompassing regulatory framework. In his mindset, Malta had just about climbed the slippery slopes of blockchain regime and was in an adventurous mode to tackle the next mountain of AI. Undoubtedly, this is a technol- ogy that USA tech giants pour billions of dollars annually in re- search and development. It is an open secret, that government is keen to be seen helping innova- tion and would like to see Mal- ta becoming a jurisdiction that attracts talent from all over the world. Artificial intelligence and ro- botics are two "overnight suc- cesses" in advanced economies that have been decades in the making, and their intersection will soon change a multitude of industries. e evolution of smarter AI and more-versatile robotics has helped both tech- nologies to push past repetitive tasks to take on adaptive and more intelligent applications. In the coming years, the result will be nothing short of revolution- ary paradigm shift. AI technologies will continue disrupting beyond 2020 and be- come even more widely availa- ble due to affordable cloud com- puting and big data explosion. e gargantuan task was taken on board by Hon. Silvio Schem- bri, being Economy Minister for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation. At a press conference in Singapore, he spoke about the country's plans for assembling a new task force in an ambitious mission for Malta to become one of the world's leading AI nation. How can Malta gain from the wave of popularity that is grip- ping the ubiquitous sector of robotics. e answer is found in the impending age of smart- er robotics - these will certain- ly have a profound impact on traditional manufacturing; for instance, our heath sector will soon make use of robotics to allocate medicines to patients and assist in useful operations taking place in the operating theatre. AI thrives best by combin- ing large amounts of data sets with fast, iterative processing and intelligent algorithms. is allows the AI software to learn automatically from patterns or features in that vast data sets. It is trendy to read on latest AI topics in the mainstream news. It is no exaggeration that, AI has become a catch-all media term that refers to any computer pro- gram that automatically does something. Many people make referrals to AI without actually knowing what it really means. ere is often a public debate on wheth- er it is an evil or a panacea for humanity. Put simply one may explain, that in Malta this tech- nology will in the near future spearhead novelties in the man- ufacturing sectors and create interesting scenarios in areas of productivity, safety, service, transportation, land registra- tion and police records. More will be revealed in the near future, when driver-less cars will become fully func- tional and slowly enter into the mainstream. Autonomously driven cars and drones are both forms of advanced robotics, and they will pave the way for more specialized services that will speed productivity. ey will impact every area of our lives. As was the case of the internet revolution, some of the originalities will happen in a gradual, evolutionary way; albe- it some will happen in a sudden, revolutionary manner. To delve deeper into the subject, one may mention that apart from AI there is its cousin - Machine Learning (ML), and its sibling - Deep Learning (DL). One may actually think they are all of the same stable but in fact they are different. To start within AI and the Internet of ings (IOT) are inextricably intertwined, with several technological advances all converging at once to set the foundation for an AI and IOT paroxysm. As stated earlier, AI involves machines that can perform tasks that are charac- teristic of human intelligence. Typically, it includes things like planning, understanding lan- guage, recognizing objects and sounds, learning, and problem solving. It goes without saying that the learning process involves feed- ing huge amounts of data to the algorithm and allowing the algorithm to adjust itself and improve. To give a simple example, ma- chine learning has been used to make drastic improvements to computer vision (the ability of a machine to recognize an object in an image or video). In order to achieve this, the process may involve gathering hundreds of thousands or even millions of pictures and then have humans tag them. For example, the hu- mans might tag pictures that have a cat in them versus those that do not. en, the algorithm tries to build a model that can accurately tag a picture as con- taining a cat or not as well as a human. In its simplicity, one may then conclude that once the accu- racy level is high enough, the machine would have "learned" what a cat looks like. On the other hand, we cannot forget to clarify Deep Learning pro- cesses. is is one of many ap- proaches to machine learning. It was originally inspired by the structure and function of the brain, namely the interconnect- ing of many neurons. Having explained the jargon, one may take a deep breath and pause for air. In spite of its limited resourc- es, PKF privately launched a training lab called "e Bit-Pod" concept. is is a virtual place for informal discussions among practitioners, engineers and IT enthusiasts to network where they can discuss topics on the cosmic subject of this technol- ogy. It is a non-profit organisa- tion, intended to help connect entrepreneurs (mainly start- ups) to people, programming engineers, and other enthusiast across the AI, Blockchain and robotic fields. Whether you are looking to connect, learn, share, or work, Bit-Pod offers a selection of opportunities to network with other start-ups thus this may help you scale the slippery slopes of early stage develop- ment. It is undoubtedly true, that in other countries such in- itiatives qualify for sponsorship by government agencies. e top champion is Israel, which habitually offers financial and logistical help to accelerator labs focused to nurture growth among start-ups. And once the pandemic is over, will the pri- vate sector be ready to give its share to help TechMT develop this ambitious niche? Success will place us among the front runners in technical innovation and help make Silvio Schembri's ambitious vision a reality. It will spearhead his ad- venture bequeathing the nation with an artificial intelligence legacy. Budget 2021 – adventures into AI George Mangion George Mangion is a senior partner of an audit and consultancy firm, and has over 25 years experience in accounting, taxation, financial and consultancy services. His efforts have seen PKF being instrumental in establishing many companies in Malta and ensured PKF become one of the foremost professional financial service providers on the Island