A concept paper has been prepared regarding the use and practice of AI in Nepal, what are the topics?

 A concept paper has been prepared regarding the use and practice of AI in Nepal, what are the topics?

 For the first time, the government has prepared a concept paper on the use and practice of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Although the development and use of AI is increasing globally, there is no policy and law related to this in Nepal, so the government has prepared a concept paper to set the basis for the necessary policy and law.

The committee formed on January 5 has prepared a report on the concept paper and submitted it to the ministry. The report suggested that the government should make necessary policies, laws and procedures for the development, use and regulation of AI.

Pointing out the need to address the issues of cyber security, data security and privacy at the policy level, the report suggested the formulation of a national policy on AI and the creation of a national strategy.

Similarly, it has suggested that standards should be determined in such a way as to adapt to the international standards of policies and laws covering data protection framework, use of AI and privacy and security of users with legal basis.

The report suggested the development of an integrated national portal and the creation of an integrated structure to exchange information related to AI. Similarly, it is mentioned in the report that research, development and use of this matter should be promoted with priority, and programs should be conducted to speed up the use of AI.

Narayan Timilsina, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry and Member of Concept Paper Preparation Technical Committee, suggested that national projects and sectoral initiatives should be developed to utilize its transformative nature in economic and social development.

"There is a need to adopt a strategy to increase research, investment and cooperation in matters such as privacy protection, transparency and accountability, development and promotion of AI use," the report said, "for this, each sector should prioritize the development and promotion of AI use in its policies, strategies and programs. It should be kept."

The report emphasized on the need to identify the existing human resources and increase their capacity. Similarly, since the development, use and promotion of AI can be accelerated only after the availability of skilled manpower in the public and private sector, it is suggested that all attention should be paid to building human capital in this sector.

The report suggests that AI should be used in disease prevention and treatment, financial services and analytics, manufacturing and manufacturing, education and development, communication and experience improvement. Similarly, it has been mentioned that AI should be used in the fields of organizational management, government services, social security, sports, research and development, agriculture, and tourism.

“The state of the current ecosystem of artificial intelligence development in Nepal, potential areas for promotion, research and development capabilities and the way forward needs to be assessed,” the report said, adding, “The national strategy will focus on key sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, education, smart cities and infrastructure, smart mobility. And a future action plan should be decided on the matter of transportation.”

The report suggests that the strategy related to AI should include data and digital infrastructure, economic and financial arrangements to accelerate AI startups, research and development, ethics, data privacy, security and regulation, skills and capacity building of manpower, industrialization of technology and sectoral initiatives.

Deputy Secretary Timilsina informed that the technical committee has studied the background of AI, concept, AI ecosystem, its basic principles, approach, purpose, existing situation, policy system, institutional and usage situation, international practices and strategies, and the future course of action to be taken by Nepal has been included in the report.

The technical committee formed by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology prepared the concept paper after a five-month long study.

According to the instructions of Communication and Information Technology Minister Rekha Sharma, the Ministry formed a five-member technical committee under the coordinator of Joint Secretary Anil Kumar Dutt. Among the members of the committee are Deputy Secretary of the Ministry Narayan Timilsina, Information Technology Director of the Information Technology Department Pavitra Dangol, Associate Professor of the Institute of Engineering Studies. Baburam Dawadi and Surya Prakash Upadhyay, a computer engineer of the Ministry, were the member secretaries.

In the report, the AI ​​usage strategies issued by the European Union, United Nations, Nordic-Baltic region, UAE, India, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore, South Korea, etc. Comparative analysis is included in the study.