The Center for Artificial Intelligence will become an innovative platform for leadership and excellence, Smart Administration and Regional Development Minister Inga Berzina (New Unity) said during the opening of the center on Wednesday.
Today, we are in a reality where technology is both inspiring and frightening, said Berzina. It is a challenge for democratic countries is to ensure that technology serves human development and is not a threat, she said.
The Center for Artificial Intelligence brings together representatives from the state, research and digital sectors, said Berzina.
Riga Stradins University rector and Latvian Association of Universities’ council chairman Aigars Petersons said at the Center for Artificial Intelligence founding event that science and technology would go hand in hand at the center, where new ideas would be generated that would materialize in new technology.
The Artificial Intelligence Center will also be a platform where new ideas can be channeled into economic development, said Petersons.
Petersons also thanked President Edgars Rinkevics for taking the initiative to establish the Artificial Intelligence Center.
The Latvian Information and Communication Technology Association’s President Signe Balina said at the event, “The main and most important thing is that we as a country have said that we want this Artificial Intelligence Center, and that we want and can work together”.
Prime Minister Evika Silina (New Unity), who also took part in the event, said that artificial intelligence was our present and our future.
With the help of the Artificial Intelligence Center, it will be possible to create competitive products, said Silina. At the same time, the establishment of the Artificial intelligence Center is a major joint effort by the private sector in cooperation with the academic sector and the public sector. “Artificial intelligence will define our development in the next 10 to 20 years. We will be the ones who go one step ahead of others,” she said.
A competition for the post of the Artificial Intelligence Center’s director will be launched later in the spring.
Saeima Speaker Daiga Mierina (Greens/Farmers) wishes the Artificial Intelligence Center to work and live up to the expectations that have been placed on it. “We all want Latvia to be an example of how artificial intelligence can contribute to economic growth and prosperity for all of us,” she said.
Technology company Latvijas Mobilais Telefons (LMT) has donated EUR 50,000 to the Artificial Intelligence Center. LMT President Juris Binde said that the donation was meant for the development of an initial operational plan of the center.
As reported, Saeima adopted the law on the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Center in the final reading on March 6.
The aim of the law is to promote “the use of reliable and safe AI for the benefit of the society in order to increase productivity and competitiveness”.
By guiding the innovation of trusted and secure AI in industries, the new law provides for development of an AI technology ecosystem, its legal framework for cooperation between the public and private sectors and universities, supporting the responsible application and development of AI technologies.
The law provides for the creation of an AI Center, bringing together public, research and digital actors, to foster mutual partnerships, innovation and development, to promote AI initiatives in high-potential areas of national interest and national competitiveness.
The aim of the center is to promote skills and equity in the field of AI and to ensure that AI systems are used ethically, responsibly and safely, respecting fundamental human rights. The center will also be required to implement measures to mitigate the risks associated with the use of AI in its activities.
The new center is planned as a foundation and will include not only the state, represented by the Smart Administration and Regional Development Ministry, the Economics Ministry and the Defense Ministry, but also the private sector, represented by the Latvian Association of Information and Communication Technologies, and universities, represented by the Association of Latvian Universities, as founding members. The center will be composed of a council, a director and a secretariat provided by the State Digital Development Agency. The council will include nine members.
Source: BNS
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