Hanoi (VNA)ꦏ – Vietnam needs to accelerate the development of infrastructure and human resources, as well as the completion of institutions to grow the Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies sector, according to insiders.

The statement was made at the workshop “Promoting AI Application and Development during the Process of Industrialisation and Modernisation” held on June 14 in the framework of the Industry 4.0 Summit 2023.

Duong Duy Hung, Assistant to the Head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission, said the roles of science, technology, and innovation have been critical to the country’s industrialisation and modernisation process over the past 40 years.

A resolution on further boosting industrialisation and modernisation was adopted at the 6^th plenum of the 13^th💝 Party Central Committee, Hung said, adding it considers digital technology one of six key industries, with priority given to the development of AI, big data, cloud computing, the Internet of things, and the production of semiconductor.

Vietnam ranked 6th out of the 10 ASEAN member countries and 55th globally in the 2022 Government AI Readiness Index, up seven places compared to 2021, according to the index report released by the UK’s Oxford Insights.

The country earned an average score of 53.96 points in 2022, increasing from 51.82 points in 2021 and surpassing the global average of 44.61, according to Oxford Insights, which ranked 181 countries this year, up from 160 in previous year’s iteration.

ꦗ These are part of the article “Vietnam’s AI Leadership Status Is Blossoming” published last week by the US magazine Forbes. The article summarizes several research sources about Vietnam’s AI industry, indicating that it has an ambitious plan to lead the AI industry in Asia, turning it into top four countries in Asia in terms of artificial intelligence advancement.

Forbes highlighted Vietnam’s jump in the AI readiness index when mentioning that the International Development Research Centre in Canada and the UK’s Oxford ranked Vietnam 6th in ASEAN and 62nd in the world for the 2021 Government Artificial Intelligence Readiness Score. That was the first time Vietnam’s AI Readiness Score reached 51.82 out of 100, which surpasses the global average of 47.72 and helps the country climb 14 places compared to the previous year. The readiness of a country or territory toward AI technology is evaluated through three pillars – the government, technology, and data infrastructure.

Hung pointed out that more investments have been injected into AI as it will bring huge benefits to humanity in the future, stressing that many international organisations see AI as important foundation to accelerate digital transformation in various sectors.

PriceWaterhouse Coopers said AI could contribute a whopping 15.7 trillion USD to the global economy, making it the biggest commercial opportunity in today’s fast changing economy.

🐻 In this context, Hung said Vietnam should sharpen its focus on removing bottlenecks in terms of institutions and policies, highlighting the move helps realize the Party’s guideline on the national strategy on AI study, development and application by 2030.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Bui The Duy said thanks to the Party and Government’s drastic measures, Vietnam has seen achievements in digitalisation process; however, efforts are needed to catch up with global trend.

To be more specific, Vietnam should pay due regard to such issue as human resources development, AI infrastructure, database and institutions.

A representative from Viettel Group recommended the Government build a transparent policy which clarify responsibilities of competent sectors to promote AI development.

🍰 Besides a sound AI, cloud and IoT infrastructure, Vietnam should further its efforts to increase the rate of mobile phone users and internet subscribers, as well as develop high quality human resources in digital data./.