The document promoted by the Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, has three axes: development of enabling factors; use and development of technology; and ethical and safety aspects. Its action plan brings together 70 priority actions and 185 initiatives with an impact in the social, economic sphere and in the training of talents.
"Artificial intelligence (AI) is an area of the technological revolution that has been incorporated into our daily lives," says the Minister of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, Andrés Couve. "This National Policy allows us to promote the construction of capacities for its development and responsible use and aims to empower citizens, to understand the opportunities and advantages that it offers us, as well as the associated risks," he said during the presentation of the initiative in October 2021.
The launch of this policy represents a very relevant milestone for the Chilean technology industry, since one of its objectives is to insert Chile into the vanguard and establish collaborative alliances throughout the world. This is, for example, promoting initiatives that promote a research ecosystem and allow the development of artificial intelligence that creates new capacities in the productive, academic, and state sectors.
“These types of initiatives are very positive for our industry, as they reinforce the importance of science and innovation in the creation of wealth in countries. They also allow us to join efforts from the public, private and academic world towards common goals”, says Waldo Fishwick, deputy general manager of Alaya Digital Solutions.
With the creation of this instrument, Chile joins the group of countries in the region that already have similar policies, such as Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, which recently presented strategies for the development of AI in their respective territories.
Three key axes of national policy
The document is structured around three key axes: enabling factors , development and adoption factors , and finally, factors related to ethics, regulatory aspects and socioeconomic effects .
The first guideline is related to the elements that enable the existence and deployment of AI. That is, those components without which the use and development of this technology is impossible. This axis, for example, includes talent development, technological infrastructure, and data.
The second, development and adoption , is related to the actors that create, provide, and demand its different applications and techniques, such as academia, the State, the private sector, and civil society. This axis includes basic and applied research, technology transfer, innovation, entrepreneurship, improvement of public services, technology-based economic development, among others.
Finally, the axis of ethics, regulatory aspects and socioeconomic effects addresses the discussions that have arisen regarding the interaction between humans and machines and the socio-technical system that it configures, understanding that some of them are more advanced and others in an initial level of development. It addresses AI and its relationship to consumer protection, privacy, intellectual property and cybersecurity.
The document highlights that each axis addresses the opportunities and gaps in its field and introduces the objectives and priority actions that the country must undertake in a 10-year time horizon to meet the objective of this policy in 2031.
Action plan
During the presentation of the document, the authorities announced the Action Plan that accompanies this instrument. The following stand out: 70 priority actions and 185 initiatives with an impact in social and economic spheres and in the training of talents, thus contemplating a public investment of 26 billion dollars.
It also contemplates the targeting of Chilean PhD Scholarships abroad for programs related to AI; R&D collaboration initiatives between universities and the productive sector and the generation of incentives and public-private agreements for the insertion of professionals with a doctoral degree in technology companies, among others.