I have been looking for a source that consolidates the ambitions countries have for future of Artificial Intelligence and how it could it be used within their borders.

Tim Dutton, who is an AI policy researcher based in Canada, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Politics + AI wrote this impressive article on Medium and chronologically describes all the present national AI policies announced.

Here are some that caught my eye from Tim’s post, and please do visit his Medium page for the full article:

Kenya

In January 2018, Kenya’s government announced a new task force to create a strategy that encourages the development and adoption of new technologies such as blockchain and AI. Two months later, the government formally unveiled the 11-person task force. Chaired by Bitange Ndemo, the former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication, the task force’s goal is to provide recommendations on how the government can leverage new technologies in the next five years. The task force will also provide milestones for 2027 and 2032 and situate the strategy in the areas of financial inclusion, cybersecurity, land tilting, election process, single digital identity, and overall public service delivery. The strategy is not strictly about AI, but the technology is one of the many technologies that the government wants to harness in the coming years.

Singapore

Launched in May 2017, AI Singaporeis a five-year, S$150 million national program to enhance Singapore’s capabilities in AI. It is a government-wide partnership involving six different organizations. Its goals are to invest in the next wave of AI research, address major societal and economic challenges, and broaden adoption and use of AI within industry.

The program consists of four key initiatives. First, Fundamental AI Research funds scientific research that will contribute to the other pillars of AI Singapore. Second, Grand Challenges supports the work of multi-disciplinary teams that provide innovative solutions to major challenges Singapore and the world faces. Currently the program focuses on health, urban solutions, and finance. Third, 100 Experiments funds scalable AI solutions to industry-identified problems. Finally, AI Apprenticeship is a 9-month structured program to foster a new cohort of AI talent in Singapore.

United Kingdom

The British government released the AI Sector Deal in April 2018. It is part of the government’s larger industrial strategy and aims to position the UK as a global leader in AI. It is quite comprehensive, with policies to boost public and private R&D, invest in STEM education, improve digital infrastructure, develop AI talent, and lead the global conversation on data ethics. Major announcements include over £300 million in private sector investment from domestic and foreign technology companies, the expansion of the Alan Turing Institute, the creation of Turing Fellowships, and the launch of the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation. The Centre in particular is a key program of the initiative, as the government wants to lead the global governance of AI ethics. A public consultation and a call for the chair of the Centre was launched in June 2018.

Ten days before the release of the sector deal, the UK’s House of Lords’ Select Committee on AI published a lengthy report titled, AI in the UK: ready, willing, and able?The report is the culmination of a ten-month inquiry that was tasked with examining the economic, ethical, and social implications of advances in AI. The report outlines a number of recommendations for the government to consider, including calls to review the potential monopolization of data by technology companies, incentivize the development of new approaches to the auditing of datasets, and create a growth fund for UK SMEs working with AI. The report also argued that there is an opportunity for the UK to lead the global governance of AI and recommended hosting a global summit in 2019 to establish international norms for the use and development of AI. In June 2018, the government released an official response to the House of Lords that comments on each of the recommendations in the report.

Japan

Japan was the second country to develop a national AI strategy. Based on instructions from Prime Minister Abe during the Public-Private Dialogue towards Investment for the Future in April 2016, the Strategic Council for AI Technology was established to develop “research and development goals and a roadmap for the industrialization of artificial intelligence.” The 11-member council had representatives from academia, industry, and government, including the President of Japan’s Society for the Promotion of Science, the President of the University of Tokyo, and the Chairman of Toyota.

The plan, the Artificial Intelligence Technology Strategy, was released in March 2017. The strategy is notable for its Industrialization Roadmap, which envisions AI as a service and organizes the development of AI into three phases: (1) the utilization and application of data-driven AI developed in various domains, (2) the public use of AI and data developed across various domains, and (3) the creation of ecosystems built by connecting multiplying domains. The strategy applies this framework to three priority areas of Japan’s Society 5.0initiative— productivity, health, and mobility — and outlines policies to realize the industrialization roadmap. These policies include new investments in R&D, talent, public data, and start-ups.

Tim Dutton is an AI policy researcher based in Canada. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of Politics + AI. He writes and edits the articles for the Politics + AI’s Medium page and provides contract work to governments and companies looking to learn about the emerging political risks and opportunities of AI. You can follow him on Twitter and connect with him on LinkedIn.