Vietnam approaches AI trends early but implementation is slow

Vietnam catches up with AI trends early and quickly

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the workshop "Promoting the application and development of artificial intelligence in the process of industrialization and modernization", within the framework of the High-level Forum on Industry 4.0, Mr. Duong Duy Hung, Assistant to the Head of the Central Economic Commission, shared that in the field of AI, in recent years, Vietnam has developed rapidly, increasingly going into depth and expanding in many fields.

Mr. Duong Duy Hung delivered the opening speech at the workshop.

According to the report “ Government AI Readiness Index” jointly published by Oxford University and the Canadian International Development Research Center, Vietnam scored 51.82/100 points, up 14 places from the previous year and higher than the global average (47.72). Mr. Duong Duy Hung commented that this is a positive sign of the ability to access and develop the field of artificial intelligence in Vietnam.

In addition, in 2022, Vietnam also ranked 48th out of 132 countries in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Innovation Index (GII), ranking 2nd among low-middle-income countries.

Mr. Bui The Duy, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, spoke at the workshop.

Mr. Bui The Duy, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology (MOST), also agreed with this view, saying that Vietnam approached the trend very early and quickly. In addition to the Industry 4.0 High-Level Forum, the Central Economic Committee chaired with ministries, branches, and agencies advising the Politburo to issue a Resolution to proactively approach the 4.0 Industrial Revolution. The Government also issued a national digital transformation strategy and a strategy for research and development of artificial intelligence applications.

Dr. Tran Anh Tu, Deputy Director of the Department of High Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, pointed out that Vietnam has had policies on prioritizing high technology development, including AI. From the perspective of state investment, ministries and branches have paid attention and planned for AI development. The Ministry of Science and Technology has supported the development of AI-related tasks with more than 100 tasks in the period from 2016 to 2023.

AI is a core technology but implementation is slow

According to Mr. Duong Duy Hung, Assistant Head of the Central Economic Committee, AI is considered the most important foundational technology leading digital transformation activities in industries, fields, organizations and businesses. According to the forecast of the auditing company PriceWaterhouse Coopers, by 2030, AI will contribute an additional 15.7 trillion USD to the global economy, at the same time AI will create new industries and new jobs.

Mr. Duong Le Minh Duc, Deputy Director of AI Center - FPT Smart Cloud, affirmed that AI is the core competency of enterprises in the digital age. AI has created spectacular progress for many global companies and many big domestic names operating in the finance - banking sector are also investing heavily.

In Vietnam, the Resolution of the Party Central Committee for the first time considered the digital technology industry (prioritizing the development of artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, cloud computing, Internet of Things, electronic and telecommunications equipment, semiconductor chip design and manufacturing) as one of the six fundamental industries.

According to Mr. Bui The Duy, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, in terms of practical implementation, our speed of implementing the 4th Industrial Revolution is still much slower than the world, especially in the field of AI. He pointed out a series of pillars that need to be deployed, which are human resources, computing infrastructure, data and regulations, and ethical institutions. In particular, high-performance computing infrastructure is relatively fragmented, there are not really large computing centers; data available for AI is still limited. Tools such as ChatGPT and image generation, although contributing effectively to labor productivity, have equally big consequences such as reducing the creativity and self-motivation of students, students, and workers or creating fake information, from fake photos to fake videos.

Dr. Tran Anh Tu, Deputy Director of the Department of High Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, said that the promotion of AI application still has many limitations, such as the lack of specialized, high-class training facilities; the lack of national AI research facilities; and the special incentive mechanism to attract AI talent is not attractive. In addition, there is the problem of creating open databases and distributed big data infrastructure, which do not have enough strength to ensure the needs of AI development.

Dr. Le Thai Hung, Director of Ecosystem Strategy, VNPT AI.

From a business perspective, Dr. Le Thai Hung, Director of VNPT AI Ecosystem Strategy, shared that when deploying AI, this unit encountered many challenges, that is, the AI Engine needs to be optimized on many phones, so the department has to go to each device store to optimize. When providing new experiences to customers, they also have to instruct users again, which takes a lot of time. Moreover, Vietnamese AI is quite behind the world, so when a product is released to the market, they have to compete with many foreign companies.

Promoting AI development through improving institutions and policies

In order to avoid being overwhelmed by AI development, ministries and branches have had strategies to promote development, amend regulations, and corporations have paid attention to human resource training and rapid updates.

According to Mr. Bui The Duy, the Ministry of Science and Technology is collaborating with FPT to build a database of Vietnamese experts around the world, moving towards building a platform to connect technology needs. In the near future, it will be deployed on FPT's Smart cloud to support universities and small businesses to test their own AI.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Ngoc, representative of Viettel, presented a paper at the workshop.

In order to maximize the role of AI in promoting national digital transformation, Mr. Nguyen Quang Ngoc, Business Director of Government Customer Division, Viettel Cyberspace Center, proposed four proposals, which are to perfect laws, policies and institutions; ensure infrastructure and technology; strengthen public-private cooperation; and enhance education and training.

Mr. Duong Duy Hung believes that AI is no longer a story of technology and academics, but of socio-economic life, the benefits of all subjects in society, from businesses to state management agencies and national governance. We will have to apply and adapt AI in Vietnam.

According to him, Vietnam needs legal institutions and policies to create a favorable environment for AI development; needs to develop resources, mechanisms, infrastructure and data; and attract the attention of the community, including businesses, scientists, economists, and managers. In the process of implementing policies, it is necessary to ensure safety in terms of information and data, ethics, society, and employment.

In addition, AI is also technology, so we must master the technology and not let the negative aspects of AI affect the development process.

Vietnam sets many goals in AI development

Science and technology platforms, innovation in general and artificial intelligence (AI) in particular will be technologies that play a very important role in helping Vietnam achieve its dual goals in the context of the pandemic.

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