The Maltese government has launched its AI Strategy for public consultation, in which it declares its intentions to establish Malta as “amongst the top 10 nations with the highest impact national AI programme.”

The Malta.AI Taskforce and the Maltese Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation has invited members of the public, industry and academia to provide feedback on its High-level policy document for public consultation 'Malta: towards an AI Strategy' (the 'Policy Document').

The purpose of the Policy Document is to establish Malta as "amongst the top 10 nations with the highest impact national AI programme." The government argues that Malta has the natural and infrastructural qualities to make it "the Ultimate AI launchpad" - Its small population, climate, use of the English language and legislative and regulatory set-up ensure that it is primed for the adoption and development of innovations and success stories in the AI industry.

The National AI strategy is built on three strategic pillars:

(i) Investment, Start-Ups and Innovation: The government strives to leverage Malta's small size as an impetus for investment and innovation. In doing so it aims to inter alia identify niche areas across different sectors of AI and develop a Research and Innovation Centre of Excellence for AI, Big Data and Robotics

(ii) Public Sector Adoption: Furthermore, the adoption of AI in the public sector is sought to provide better services to citizens and businesses. It is desired that such use of AI in the public sector will act as an example upon which future development and innovation can be built.

(iii) Private Sector Adoption: Finally, the National AI Strategy seeks to introduce certain schemes and incentives aimed at increasing private-sector adoption of AI related technology.

Moreover, the Policy Document highlights three strategic enablers which are intended to act as a backbone upon which the three strategic pillars can be built. These three backbones are: Education and Workforce, which can act as a safeguard against what some refer to as an imminent 4th Industrial Revolution; A Legal and Ethical Framework to ensure that certain standards and norms are adhered to in the development of AI and to ultimately increase public trust in the technology and; Ecosystem Infrastructure to increase collaboration amongst players from different industries, to facilitate open data practices and to provide cost effective access to certain technology.

Click here to access the Policy Document. Interested parties are invited to participate and provide feedback by the 22nd April 2019.