Salesforce released an American cloud-based software company, has released an Asia Pacific AI Readiness Index. It ranks eight countries in the Asian-Pacific region i.e. India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Australia, in terms of their adoption and integration of AI within the lives of the consumers, businesses and governments. Part 1 of the article provides an overview of the report, in terms of the rankings, the criteria used and overall trends observed. This article details the key findings of the report.
KEY FINDINGS
- AI readiness is not a one-size-fits-all process
AI readiness is not a linear process and is not accessible to all economies in the same manner. Australia, India and Hong Kong have scored the highest in terms of government and business readiness, which reflects that government-driven strategies have focused upon steering the growth of AI through dedicated funds, programs and policies.
On the other hand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines score the highest in consumer readiness. This reflects a more market-driven approach wherein the maturation of commercial AI products and services are prioritized over any definitive and potentially constraining policy frameworks.
- Trust and accountability determine wider AI adoption
Despite high levels of awareness, consumers may not necessarily understand the way in which AI technologies work, thereby hampering their trust in AI technologies. Thus, countries like India, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines score high on consumer awareness, but relatively low on consumer understanding of AI.
All 8 economies score less than a 7 on 10 in consumer sentiment and less than 8 in consumer willingness to use AI. This tendency is more pronounced in developed economies like Singapore and Hong Kong, wherein their hyper-connectivity potentially makes security lapses more consequential. For consumers, it is vital to have visibility into how AI systems comply with laws related to collection, storage, usage and protection of personal data.
Thus, the future of AI technologies is dependent on its ethical use, an issue that governments appear to be taking seriously. The G20 has included this in its Future of Work and Education agenda. Singapore recently launched a Proposed Model AI Governance Framework, India’s 2019 budget includes the creation of a National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Australia’s Human Rights Commission released a paper on AI governance.
- Governments must drive AI readiness
Governments play a key role in making AI a national priority. Hence, government readiness comprises two complementary aspects i.e. the extent to which a government supports AI readiness through clear, decisive and consistent public policies and the extent to which a government equips its own organisations with AI capabilities.
Thus, three major policy priorities for governments include:
- Development of AI talent and encouragement of ethical use of AI in schools/institutions
- Encouragement of public-private partnerships to make AI a key part of inclusive growth and positive social outcomes
- Establishment of regional policy frameworks to support wider AI development and adoption
Economies that have undertaken concrete national strategies devoted to AI or at least, have the foundational principles in place, rank higher in terms of overall levels of readiness. Within the context of public-sector adoption, most governments in the Asian-Pacific region have made institutional strides, by deploying AI technologies within their own organisations, making automation a key tool of productivity for public services or launching multiple initiatives to shape dynamic AI ecosystems.
However, the governments’ use of AI is still in stages of infancy and they have to navigate challenges like the need to implement new technologies, hire human resources with requisite skills and the natural risk aversion of bureaucracies.
India Outbound
April 11, 2019
source https://indiaoutbound.org/key-findings-of-the-2019-asia-pacific-ai-readiness-index/
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