The Cabinet has approved a five-year, NT$16 billion (US$528.66 million) budget to develop artificial intelligence (AI) to expand the nation’s technology start-up ecosystem and competitive edge.
The Ministry of Science and Technology submitted a plan to transform the nation into an AI hub by completing the digital infrastructure needed to develop AI technologies and creating an innovative ecosystem for established tech businesses and startups.
The ministry plans to allocate NT$5 billion over four years to build servers to provide a sharable high-speed cloud computing environment for AI developers.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
That could help industries and researchers develop deep learning and big data analytics to nurture AI service providers and create a regional AI ecosystem, Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) said.
Another NT$5 billion is to be used to build a research and development center over five years to train AI engineers and apply AI technologies to practical use for society and culture.
To develop AI robotics, a four-year, NT$2 billion budget is earmarked for another research center to establish a testing ground for young engineers to experiment with their innovations and develop a domestic AI robotics industry.
The ministry has also launched a four-year, NT$4 billion “semiconductor moonshot program” to help the nation’s semiconductor industry to break through the bottleneck of AI technology.
The program is to train high-end engineers in designing chips and improving the manufacturing process to prepare the local industry for the onset of AI era, the ministry said.
To encourage public participation in AI development, the ministry is to hold a series of contests in which participants would be asked to find AI solutions to day-to-day problems.
The first contest would be developing an AI that could understand Chinese in daily scenarios, with a total prize of NT$30 million, with NT$20 million for the winning team.
Taiwan has a competitive edge in endpoint technology and devices, but Taiwanese companies have to collaborate with international tech giants such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook in cloud computing, Chen said.
Asked if a full-blown AI industry could result in mass unemployment, Chen said AI could be used to create more jobs.
“AI is as much a tool as the Internet and the computer. Certainly, some jobs have been replaced by the Internet, but many new jobs have also been created with the advent of new tools. That is why we need to master AI as soon as possible,” he said.
To prevent the criminal use of AI technology, experts in humanities and social sciences will be incorporated in the development of AI algorithms, Chen said.
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