President Ranil Wickramasinghe has decided to establish a presidential task force consisting of experts in the field to promote the use of artificial intelligence in the country.
The President has instructed the officials of the Ministry of Technology to nominate individuals for the task force and submit their information and to prepare a concept report on the matter as soon as possible.
The President gave these instructions while commenting on how artificial intelligence (AI) technology can be used for the development of the country at a recent discussion held at the President’s Office.
The President drew the officials’ attention to the use of artificial intelligence for further development in many fields including agriculture, education, health, fisheries and industry.
The president pointed out that currently the annual contribution to the gross national income through computer technology and information technology in Sri Lanka is about USD 1.9 billion, and the portion of this amount generated by artificial intelligence or AI technology has not been identified. He also instructed the relevant officials to prepare a system to identify that portion.
The President also explained the need to quickly take measures that can increase the income added to the gross domestic product through artificial intelligence in the next few years.
Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe, who further commented,“With our economic reforms, we have identified things like modernization of agriculture and fishing industry, tourism, improvement of supply centers as areas that need to be developed urgently. In addition, we have focused more on the technological industry.
As the world is moving forward with artificial intelligence today, Sri Lanka should also pay more attention to artificial intelligence and invest more in it. It has to be done through the private sector. The primary purpose of me calling this discussion today was to get your views on it and discuss with you how to start these programs; What are its pros and cons; etc.
Next year, the government expects to allocate one billion rupees for artificial intelligence or AI technology. In the development of artificial intelligence in the country, a suitable environment is required first. It requires an institution as well as data. So I look forward to your views on how these programs can be developed. And we want to create a digital economy. We will have to put in a lot of effort in the coming months. The government has already prepared the necessary plans.
Only 2500 engineers are produced in our country every year. I have suggested that we should have a minimum target of 10,000 engineers. In the use of artificial intelligence, we should consider Singapore and India. Although East Asia, South Korea, Japan and China are moving forward with artificial intelligence, no country in West Asia is there yet. So we still have very clear fields. For that, we must have strategies and implement this program promptly. And for this, the improvement of university research departments should also be started.”
Special attention was paid to the development of infrastructure required for related research activities as well as the new trends in the field and the scholars who participated in the discussion expressed their views on the future steps to be taken for the development of the field.