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  1. How Are Intelligence Strategies Being Developed In Our Region?

How Are Intelligence Strategies Being Developed In Our Region?

Since the creation of its Digital Government Policy,13 Uruguay pioneered the region in developing an Artificial Intelligence Strategy for Digital Government.14 Both documents are based on the principle of digital transformation with equity. And it is precisely with that inspiring principle that the process was conducted with great openness, consulting the different social sectors, including companies of different sizes, academia, technical community and civil society. The principles of co-creation and citizen participation previously established in the National Open Government Action Plan were applied, calling for a four-stage 15 public consultation process between April and June 2019.16 Currently, Uruguay is in the phase of preparing guides and manuals of good practices within the framework of the defined artificial intelligence strategy

In the other countries of the region that have embarked on the design of artificial intelligence strategies, the process has been more opaque and with a lack of effective participation mechanisms that can guide them towards the multisectoral, multidisciplinary and inclusive debate that they require.

In August 2018, Argentina presented the roadmap for the design of the National Artificial Intelligence Plan,17 which contemplated a call to various sectors for their participations in work tables by strategic axis and some virtual instances of recommendations development by axis, giving way then to a joint work on recommendations documents, proposed lines of action and objectives, all on a calendar until June 2019. During this time, several conferences have been held that seek to develop local conversations on the subject, with predominant participation from the private sector and academia.

During the month of August 2019 in Chile, the Minister of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation convened a committee of ten experts to support the elaboration of the National Artificial Intelligence Policy that the government intends to present in April 2020. A diagnosis of the country’s situation in AI is expected from this committee of experts, as well as proposals in three areas of work: enabling factors; development and adoption of AI and a last field related to ethics, standards, security and regulation of the use of these technologies.18 The selected experts, of high academic level and international work for the most part, are not representative of an inclusive discussion of Chilean society and there is currently no transparency about how their activities will be developed to incorporate the contribution of different sectors into the work of the committee.

13 https://uruguaydigital.gub.uy/wps/wcm/connect/urudigital/6bd54ea6-1207-4cfa-bafb-c859bdac8019/Descargar+Agenda+Digital+2020+%28actualizacion+de+medio+termino%29.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CONVERT_TO=url&CACHEID=6bd54ea6-1207-4cfa-bafb-c859bdac8019

14 https://www.gub.uy/agencia-gobierno-electronico-sociedad-informacion-conocimiento/sites/agenciagobierno-electronico-sociedad-informacion-conocimiento/files/documentos/publicaciones/Estrategia%20IA%20-%20versi%C3%B3n%20espa%C3%B1ol.pdf

15 The stages were as follows: Stage I: Consultation on general principles that should guide the application of Artificial Intelligence in the State. Stage II: Systematization and analysis of proposals. Stage III: Consultation on the Artificial Intelligence Strategy. Stage IV: Approval of the final Document of Artificial Intelligence Strategy.

16 https://www.gub.uy/agencia-gobierno-electronico-sociedad-informacion-conocimiento/comunicacion/noticias/consulta-publica-inteligencia-artificial-para-el-gobierno-digital

17 https://www.uai.edu.ar/ciiti/2019/buenos-aires/downloads/B1/JA-Plan-Nacional-IA.pdf

18 https://www.gob.cl/noticias/ministerio-de-ciencia-presenta-comite-asesor-del-gobierno-en-inteligenciaartificial/

In Colombia, the development of a digital transformation policy suddenly ended up becoming an AI strategy as well. The document approved in November 2019 contains principles such as the creation of an AI market in the country, the attraction of international talent and international cooperation.19 The policy was developed within the framework of the “Going Digital” process promoted by the OECD, but the consultation instances developed, with the participation of the private sector, civil society and comments from international institutions, pointed primarily to the aspects of digital transformation -center of the policy in its origin- and not necessarily to the aspects related to AI that were added later.

In Mexico, in March 2018, a road map was announced for an AI strategy in the country.20 Subsequently, and with a very short period of time that ran from August 15 to September 15, 2108, a national survey was developed.21 The survey had 1585 participants, 62% men and 37% women, with 50% of the participants located in the State of Mexico. The participation of the social sector was 3%, while that of the government, private initiative and academia represented 92%. Although the survey was positioned as an attempt to “democratize the conversation about AI, awaken the interest of new sectors in the subject and collect the points of view of the citizens in relation to the perception of the impact of new technologies on their daily lives”, The brief extension of its term, as well as the participation in it, do not give account of a true inclusive debate of broad sectors of society

From our perspective, and taking into account the regional experience developed in the construction of National Cybersecurity Strategies,22 it is essential to ensure broad multi-stakeholder participation processes with knowledge in various disciplines that represent an inclusive spectrum of our societies. This modality allows to incorporate different visions and approaches, as well as to gather all the necessary antecedents so that these policies are elaborated based on the evidence. Multisectoral participation not only makes the processes more open, transparent and democratic, but also has the potential to improve their quality, especially in systemic issues that involve various factors, such as AI strategies.

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