Premier vows to build sovereign AI at government innovative tech show

Taipei, Oct. 17 (CNA) Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said Thursday at a government-sponsored innovative tech show that Taiwan is an indispensable part of the world's democratic supply chain and needs to accelerate the development of software, including building sovereign artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.

Speaking at the opening of 2024 Taiwan Innotech Expo, Cho said that in addition to democracy and its economy, Taiwan has developed technological strength in recent years, from semiconductors to AI and others.

Cho said he has some expectations for the expo, including facilitating mutual exchanges and learning between domestic and foreign businesses, as well as research institutions.

He also expressed the hope that innovative technologies displayed at the show can be used to achieve inclusive growth and that government, industry and academic sectors in Taiwan can serve as a bridge facilitating technological exchanges between nations, thereby assisting democratic partner countries grow together.

Noting that Taiwan plays an indispensable role in the global democratic supply chain, Cho said it must continue to develop more diversified technology products and establish an independent industrial development direction.

Cho said that although Taiwan leads the world in technology hardware and equipment manufacturing, it should also accelerate the development of software, including establishing large language models (LLM), which are deep learning algorithms that can recognize, summarize, translate, predict and generate content using very large datasets.

Another focus is sovereign AI, which refers to a nation's ability to produce artificial intelligence using its own infrastructure, data, workforce and business networks.

Also at the event, Economic Affairs Minister Kuo Jyh-huei (郭智輝) said Taiwan ranks first in the world in AI hardware, but 26th in software, behind neighboring Singapore (third) and South Korea (sixth).

The government will strengthen AI applications in military industry, general health, green energy and other industries by introducing scientific research projects, promoting talent cultivation, and providing tax incentives through law amendments, with the aim of surpassing South Korea and catching up with Singapore in this area in the next four years, Kuo added.

This year's Taiwan Innotech Expo is scheduled to take place at Taipei World Trade Center Hall 1 from Thursday to Saturday. It was organized by 11 government ministry and agencies, including the Ministry of Economic Affairs, National Science and Technology Council and the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as Academia Sinica.