The Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) on Tuesday announced the upcoming launch of a Web site to report online fraud and that a NT$10 billion (US$313 million) investment plan to bolster artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups is expected to start accepting applications next year.
The anti-fraud reporting and inquiry Web site and its mobile app version are undergoing internal testing, while the ministry is coordinating with other government agencies to streamline administrative procedures, Minister of Digital Affairs Huang Yen-nun (黃彥男) said.
“Once the testing is complete and we receive approval from the Executive Yuan, we will make the system publicly available,” Huang said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
In addition to accepting reports from the public, the Web site would use information obtained through an AI-powered fraud-scanning service provided by the National Institute of Cyber Security, Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-jing (林宜敬) said.
The ministry would also use AI to assign the reported cases for verification with authorities, Lin said.
For confirmed fraud, the ministry would notify platforms such as Google, Facebook, Line and Instagram to remove the fraudulent content, he added.
Lin did not provide a specific date for the Web site’s launch, but said that the ministry is being careful to ensure it is thoroughly tested for security and to ensure smooth operations before rolling it out publicly.
The ministry wants the public to be able to quickly determine whether a piece of information is potentially fraudulent, or is already a confirmed scam, Lin said.
The site aims to expedite the case assignment process for dealing with fraud, as previously it could take several days for different government agencies to manually process documents to confirm whether a piece of information was suspicious or fraudulent, he said.
The Web site and app are currently in Chinese only, and further discussions are needed to determine whether interfaces in other languages would be developed, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, the growth and success of Taiwan’s digital economy would depend heavily on AI, Huang said.
“As one of the significant limitations in AI development is funding, we hope to provide those start-ups with sufficient resources to support their growth,” he said.
The management committee of the National Development Council on Aug. 9 approved the investment enhancement implementation plan for AI start-ups with an allocation of NT$10 billion over a 10-year period, he said.
MODA has initiated preparatory work for the investment plan, including holding discussions on operational regulations and the establishment of an office, with the goal of formally accepting investment applications next year, he said.
Administration for Digital Industries Deputy Director-General Lin Jiunn-shiow (林俊秀) said that the scope of investment includes domestic AI start-ups and companies related to the digital economy, covering areas such as discriminative AI, based on supervised learning, and generative AI, systems that can generate new content.
The investments would primarily focus on Taiwanese companies, including those founded by foreign nationals, while funded projects have the potential to receive approval for overseas conversion, such as by establishing operations abroad to meet the company’s internationalization needs, he said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS