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 Certainly, some jobs have been replaced by the Internet, but many new jobs have also been created with the advent of new tools.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.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Taiwan’s three major international carriers are increasing booking fees, with EVA Airways having already increased the charge to US$28 per flight segment from US$25, while China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines are set to follow suit. Booking fees are charged by airlines through a global distribution system (GDS) and passed on to passengers. Carriers that apply the fees include CAL, EVA, Starlux and Tigerair Taiwan. A GDS is a computerized network operated by a company that connects airlines with travel agents and ticketing platforms, allowing reservations to be made and processed in real time. Major players include Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport. EVA Air began
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
WATCH FOR HITCHHIKERS: The CDC warned those returning home from Japan to be alert for any contagious diseases that might have come back with them People who have returned from Japan following the World Baseball Classic (WBC) games during the weekend are recommended to watch for symptoms of infectious gastroenteritis, flu and measles for two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. Flu viruses remain the most common respiratory pathogen in Taiwan in the past four weeks and the influenza B virus accounted for 55.7 percent of the tested cases, exceeding the percentage of influenza A (H3N2) infections and becoming the local dominant strain, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said at a news conference on Tuesday. There were 82,187 hospital visits for
RSS