Friday, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations released the first draft of a guide for governing artificial intelligence (AI). However, there are some problems with it.
The Ministry of Communications and Information in Singapore said, “The guide aims to set common standards for trustworthy AI and recommend best practices for putting trustworthy AI into practice in ASEAN.”
Some people are afraid that putting this guide into action might be hard because each country is at a different stage of digital and technology growth. “Not only do the countries differ in terms of digital capabilities, but also in terms of the level of maturity of regulatory authorities, institutional capacities as well as the rule of law,” said Kristina Fong, who is the lead researcher for economic affairs at the ASEAN Studies Centre.
The guide covers ethics and governance at both the regional and national levels. It gives people advice on how to responsibly plan, build, and use AI systems. The worries of every country or area may be different, though, depending on where they are in the digital growth process.
Some of the rules for national-level AI administration are to work on AI talent, increase the size of the workforce, and put money into AI research and development. It’s made up of putting together use cases and forming a working group at the area level. If you look at how AI is already governed in the business and private sectors, you can see how these rules can help.
“Countries are not at the same level when it comes to the stages of implementation or the effectiveness of regulations,” Fong said. “This is true even when looking at some of the most basic building blocks of regulations needed to effectively manage these AI risks, such as those for cybersecurity and personal data protection.”
People in charge say this guideline is a good start, but because AI is changing so quickly, the guidelines need to change along with it to fit how AI is used, created, and designed now.
