Lawmakers yesterday completed an initial review of the draft of the “fundamental act of artificial intelligence” (AI) (人工智慧基本法), with most provisions left to be determined via cross-caucus negotiations.
The legislature’s Education and Culture Committee and Transportation Committee reviewed the bill at a joint meeting, but failed to reach a consensus on most provisions.
Only three provisions were passed with the title of the act determined at the meeting.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The committees had reviewed the bill at another meeting on June 11 and said that they would review it again after the Ministry of Digital Affairs submits the Executive Yuan’s version of the provisions by July 15, as requested by attending Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators on that day.
However, the ministry did not submit a Cabinet version of the bill as of yesterday.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Ju-chun (葛如鈞), who is also the convener of the meeting, expressed his discontent with the ministry. DPP legislators at the meeting did not give remarks.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) said the establishment of the act would significantly increase Taiwan’s competitiveness in the global AI landscape, but the Cabinet had failed to present a proposal.
The DPP government claimed that it would seize opportunities to develop AI technology, not only setting 2017 as Taiwan’s inaugural year for AI, but also to put forward strategies for AI scientific research, she said.
President William Lai (賴清德) presented a four-year AI action plan when he was the premier, and the administration of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) unveiled the draft bill of the AI fundamental act in 2019, Ko said.
Despite all the fanfare and pressure from opposition parties over the past more than six years, the Cabinet did not present its version of the bill, she said.
“The executive branch said that cross-ministry negotiations were still required, but I don’t buy it,” Ko said, adding that the Executive Yuan would not be eligible to call itself an “AI Cabinet” or lead innovation in the tech industry, if it could not even handle the AI fundamental act.
KMT Legislator Huang Chien-hao (黃健豪) said the bill has been put on hold for eight years over three presidential terms.
The Executive Yuan remained passive even though the AI action plan was proposed by Lai when he was the premier in 2017, he said.
Huang said he had expressed concern over personal data protection on the execution level, but attending executive branch officials replied they could only “assist” with personal data protection, as the responsible agency of the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) does not have authority beyond that.
That is not just a dereliction of duty, but a bureaucratic obstruction of the bill, he said.
The Executive Yuan’s responses to other issues raised by committee members, such as labor rights, data sharing, child and youth protection or preferential taxes, also showed that it was ill-prepared, Huang added.
The three approved provisions specified the government’s responsibility for promoting AI technology developments, providing incentives for relevant industries, and establishing an open data sharing mechanism for AI training.
Additional reporting by CNA
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