2019 Asia Pacific AI Readiness Index: Overview

Salesforce, an American cloud-based software company, has released an Asia Pacific AI Readiness Index that outlines the benefits and challenges associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and evaluates how India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Australia fare, relative to each other, in terms of AI readiness. The report also provides practical recommendations for people, businesses and governments to improve their adoption of AI.
 
AI leaders are fast emerging in the APAC region however, in order to truly benefit from AI, the countries must embrace and embed AI technologies into their workflows. This ability translates into multiple forms of “AI readiness.” For consumers, this entails understanding and trusting AI technologies, businesses must be equipped with requisite processes and skills to leverage AI systems and governments must become the catalyst for AI adoption, by ensuring its development in a safe, ethical and sustainable manner.

Since, no exact measurements of AI readiness exist, the Index has used 20 proxy indicators that have been clustered into three dimensions of readiness for:

• Consumers (5 indicators): How consumers perceive, understand and trust AI provides an important assessment of the short- and long-term effectiveness of AI initiatives
• Businesses (7 indicators): How the private sector (start-ups, SMEs and enterprises) are equipped to adopt AI is an important indicator of the ability of businesses to drive and sustain the growth of AI
• Governments (8 indicators): How the public sector (regulators, policy-makers, institutions and organisations) is enabling AI through funds and policy frameworks, in order to make it a driver of growth and economic competitiveness

Thus, the Index is a composite measure of the quality and strength of AI frameworks and ecosystems in these countries. It is a product of qualitative research and quantitative modelling, based on publicly available data from 2018, which assesses the abilities of the consumers, businesses and governments to adopt, deploy and support AI technologies.
 
According to the report, AI adoption is fragmented and uneven in the Asian-Pacific region. While the efforts and commitment of some governments have not yet been reflected in the adoption and usage of AI by consumers and businesses, in others, they are taking the lead and showing the way forward to governments, vis-à-vis innovation and change. In addition to providing in-depth analyses for India, Singapore and Australia, the report provides recommendations for the preparation of AI talent, building trust and shaping ecosystems.
 
The report concludes with the promulgation that working in close partnership with the business, government and technology industry is imperative for APAC leaders to become world leaders in terms of readiness and adoption of AI.
 
Part 2 of the article will elaborate upon the findings and recommendations of the Index in detail.
 
India Outbound
April 10, 2019
 
 

source https://indiaoutbound.org/2019-asia-pacific-ai-readiness-index-overview/