Artificial Intelligence Policies in East Asia

The trade war underscores the greater role that technologies such as AI play in foreign policy today and brings attention to the need for the Canadian government to approach AI governance on the global stage in a strategic and comprehensive manner. [...] Just as governments needed to create highways and establish rules of the road with the advent of the mass-produced automobile, so too do citizens and industry require the involvement of government to set up the basic infrastructure for an AI-driven economy to take full advantage of the new technology. [...] Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said that “whoever leads on AI will rule the world.” The policy debates surrounding the technology are now increasingly framed within the language of an AI race, which emphasizes the competition between nations for supremacy on AI technologies, akin to the arms race between the United States and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War.10 At a more subt [...] It highlights the need to fully delineate the responsibilities of the government and the private sector to maximize the government’s role in planning and guidance, policy support, security, regulation, environmental protection, and formulation of ethical guidelines. [...] The projected size of the AI industry from the combination of the 15 AI strategies amounts to RMB429B (C$80.17B) by 2020, almost three times the national goal of RMB150B (C$30.5B), which underscores the impact of the national directive upon local policies.13 The private sector has followed suit as well.