The AI Forum is the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) key partner for New Zealand’s first National AI Strategy, marking a significant milestone both for the Government and the AI ecosystem. The timing couldn’t be better as we look to build a stronger and more resilient economy in the wake of COVID-19. Supporting the AI sub-economy also helps contribute to New Zealand’s prosperity, both onshore and offshore.
The national strategy will form part of the Digital Technology Industry Transformation Plan (ITP) as one of six streams identified during recent industry consultation. You can read the latest progress report on the digital tech ITP here. We are very pleased to also be helping with the Data Driven Innovation initiative and there will, of course, be some crossover with the strategy work.
The AI Forum is supporting MBIE with consultation and collaboration with industry, academia, innovators and other Government agencies. This will help ensure that a national strategy offers tangible benefits and much-needed adoption and investment stimulus while tackling some of the ethical and regulatory issues.
At the heart of the approach is co-design, with aspirations to involve many stakeholders and contributors, while taking advantage of learnings from other countries’ who have already undertaken strategy development. MBIE and the AI Forum are also working closely with the World Economic Forum and OECD on this work.
In the coming months, the AI Forum will host various discussions, workshops and consultations to help outline what our national strategy should include and perhaps more importantly, what it should not include.
If you have a particular interest in being involved, please contact us.
With growing concerns around algorithmic explainability, I was pleased to read the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) draft publication, Four Principles of Explainable Artificial Intelligence. It is intended to stimulate a conversation about what we should expect of our decision-making devices.
In case you missed the recent announcement, New Zealand achieved a world-first with the publishing of the Algorithm Charter to help demonstrate a commitment to ensuring New Zealanders have confidence in how Government agencies use algorithms. This is a sure sign that we can lead the world in other aspects of AI and indeed a national AI strategy.
Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua.
Emma
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