At the nationwide scientific convention themed “The limitless power and unpredictable challenges of artificial intelligence – Impacts and policy responses,” Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung introduced that Vietnam will introduce an updated National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy and enact an AI Law by the tip of this yr.
He emphasised, “This is not just a legal framework but a declaration of national vision. AI must become the intellectual infrastructure of the country, serving the people, ensuring sustainable development, and enhancing national competitiveness.”
On the morning of September 15 in Hanoi, the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, in coordination with the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, organized a nationwide scientific convention on AI.
The occasion was attended and chaired by Politburo members Nguyen Xuan Thang, Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council; General Luong Tam Quang, Minister of Public Security; Central Committee members Nguyen Manh Hung, Minister of Science and Technology; and Senior Lieutenant General Le Huy Vinh, Deputy Minister of National Defense.
AI as the brand new nationwide infrastructure
During the occasion, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung asserted that AI ought to be seen as an mental infrastructure, not merely an utilized expertise. He in contrast AI to important infrastructures resembling electrical energy, telecommunications, and the web.
“Whoever masters AI will hold superior advantages in production, business, healthcare, education, governance, and even national defense and security. Vietnam must develop its own AI infrastructure,” he said.
Vietnam plans to quickly construct a nationwide AI supercomputing middle and shared open AI datasets. The nation will pursue “AI-ization” because it as soon as pursued electrification – solely sooner. AI literacy will likely be popularized in a fashion related to the English language schooling motion in earlier a long time. Every Vietnamese citizen could have a digital assistant. While the inhabitants stays steady, nationwide mind will doubtlessly double.
On open AI expertise, Minister Hung reiterated Vietnam’s dedication to growing and mastering digital applied sciences, together with AI, based mostly on open requirements and open-source platforms.
“This is not only a commitment but also our strategic direction: openness for development, for mastering Vietnamese technology, for ‘Make in Vietnam,’ and to contribute to humanity. Openness allows us to harness others’ knowledge and to elevate the collective standard,” he stated.
Domestic market to incubate Vietnamese AI enterprises
Minister Hung emphasised that with out utility, there isn’t any market, and with no market, Vietnamese AI enterprises will stay small. Promoting AI purposes in companies, authorities businesses, and key sectors is the quickest method to develop AI and create Vietnamese AI enterprises.
The authorities will enhance funding in AI. The National Technology Innovation Fund (NATIF) below the Ministry of Science and Technology will allocate no less than 40% of its finances to assist AI purposes and present vouchers for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to undertake Vietnamese AI options. The home market will function a cradle for growing Vietnamese AI firms.
With a inhabitants of 100 million – younger, dynamic, and tech-savvy – Vietnam has the potential to each quickly undertake and create AI merchandise for itself and the world. As a growing nation going through important challenges and aiming for bold objectives, Vietnam presents many alternatives and “problems” that AI may help resolve.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has issued an inventory of strategic applied sciences, with AI recognized as a key precedence. Vietnam can speed up improvement by means of its nationwide AI computing infrastructure, knowledge ecosystems, “Make in Vietnam” digital tech enterprises, and a rising neighborhood of researchers, startups, and tech lovers. AI startups are set to develop into a key driver of Vietnam’s AI improvement.
AI helps however doesn’t substitute human pondering, values, and accountability
AI presents nice alternatives but additionally raises moral issues, employment challenges, and problems with social belief. Thus, AI improvement in Vietnam should be quick, protected, and humane. AI is supposed to serve – not substitute – people. It is a strong software, however people should stay the final word decision-makers. AI ought to assist, not substitute, human thought, values, and accountability.
Minister Hung revealed {that a} nationwide AI ethics code will likely be launched, aligned with worldwide requirements however tailor-made to Vietnam’s context. The upcoming AI Law and nationwide AI strategy will comply with six core ideas:
First, risk-based governance.
Second, transparency and accountability.
Third, placing people on the middle.
Fourth, selling home AI improvement and self-reliance.
Fifth, utilizing AI as a driver for quick and sustainable progress.
Sixth, defending digital sovereignty – anchored in knowledge, infrastructure, and AI expertise.
He famous a vital characteristic of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: a steadiness between the ability of massive techs – who personal core applied sciences – and the benefit of native firms and nations who perceive contextual language, tradition, and have domain-specific knowledge to construct tailor-made purposes.
In the digital transformation period, whereas expertise could be international, knowledge should be native. Specialized purposes should function on Vietnam’s AI infrastructure. There ought to be international and nationwide AI infrastructures, international and nationwide platforms, international apps (like ChatGPT), and numerous national-level purposes.
Such synergy between the worldwide and nationwide ranges will foster sustainable improvement, offering alternatives for growing nations like Vietnam. The aggressive fringe of Vietnamese companies lies in Vietnamese knowledge, issues, open-source AI, and most significantly, the ingenuity, flexibility, and adaptability of the Vietnamese individuals and tradition – qualities important in an period marked by fast and disruptive technological change.
Vietnam’s AI improvement path based mostly on “and”
Minister Hung emphasised that Vietnam’s AI improvement strategy ought to be based mostly on the phrase “and.”
“Global and local. Collaboration and autonomy. Big Tech and startups. Technology and application. Use and mastery. Innovation and control. Global infrastructure and national infrastructure. Open data and protected data. Foundational, multi-purpose AI and task-specific, customized AI. Large-scale AI and small, specialized AI. Open and closed technologies – both integrated to learn and contribute, and autonomous to safeguard national interests.”
Sustainable and fast AI improvement should be rooted within the philosophy of “and.” While humanity has traditionally operated with an “either-or” mindset, immediately’s challenges require embracing “and.” The degree of civilization is now mirrored in our capacity to select “and” over “or.”
Vietnam’s AI improvement will relaxation on 4 pillars – every a significant “and”: AI coverage, AI infrastructure, AI expertise, and AI tradition. These should be: clear insurance policies, fashionable infrastructure, high-quality human assets, and a human-centered AI tradition.
One extra “and” is AI and AI-related points. AI’s energy could even surpass nuclear power, making its dangers equally profound. But like yin and yang, AI and its issues coexist and evolve collectively. Problems prompted by AI can be solved utilizing AI – for instance, utilizing AI to prepare AI expertise or to detect moral violations. AI will mature alongside the challenges it creates. We should coexist with these points and handle them properly.
Vietnam’s AI Manifesto is: Humane – Safe – Autonomous – Collaborative – Inclusive – and Sustainable.
AI presents Vietnam a historic alternative to leap ahead and develop into a high-income, developed nation. Every nation that has “risen” has capitalized on the alternatives of business revolutions. While struggle prompted Vietnam to miss previous alternatives, peace, prosperity, and international integration now permit the nation to seize this second – to double nationwide intelligence, increase labor productiveness, obtain double-digit financial progress, improve nationwide competitiveness, enhance governance, and strengthen nationwide safety.
“Vietnam’s AI Manifesto is: Humane – Safe – Autonomous – Collaborative – Inclusive – and Sustainable,” Minister Nguyen Manh Hung concluded.
“And finally, I wish to reiterate a point made earlier: AI is a powerful tool, but humans must always be the final decision-makers. Let AI support – not replace – human thought, values, and responsibility. AI should free humans from repetitive labor, allowing us to focus on creativity and more meaningful pursuits,” he stated.
Nhan Dan