Keen on embracing digitization, Kazakhstan has unveiled a new artificial intelligence (AI) committee to lead the country’s efforts in the space.
Operating under the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation, and Aerospace Industry, the newly minted Artificial Intelligence and Innovation Development Committee is made up of technology, legal, and ethics experts drawn from a pool of applicants.
Although the new team answers to the Minister, the establishing document confers a measure of independence on the Committee in certain areas. For starters, the AI Committee will oversee the country’s effort to roll out a national AI strategy and will lead in drafting legislation for the broader industry.
Furthermore, the Committee will run a point with relevant government agencies and private sector enterprises to increase AI adoption in the country. Insiders with knowledge of the matter say the new team has set the ball rolling by opening discussions into a proposed licensing regime for AI firms.
While the details remain sparse, it is expected that AI service providers looking to set up operations in the city will be required to stress test their offerings before a commercial launch.
AI firms will also be expected to disclose training methods to authorities to avoid infringing on local copyright and intellectual property rules. Already, the country is mulling an integration with blockchain as a further layer of protection for creators’ copyrights.
“The idea of the creative economy is to monetize talents,” said one IP expert. “Kazakhstan joined the international conventions and treaties in the field of intellectual property, but the intellectual property rights markets require adaptation to modern trends in the development of the creative economy.”
Apart from holding industry players on a tight leash, the Committee appears keen on promoting local firms to hold their own against international AI companies. To this end, the Committee will advocate for the launch of funds to support the incubation of local AI outfits.
As the newly minted AI Committee appears set to begin its tasks, the announcement dissolved the Committee of Geodesy and Cartography under the same Ministry.
Kazakhstan’s embrace of emerging technologies
Following China’s blanket ban on digital currencies, miners settled in the central Asian country to set up new mining companies. The miners were drawn by Kazakhstan’s cheap energy supply and favorable regulatory stance, but after nearly two years, things turned awry for them.
Increased taxes and sky-high electricity bills ate into the profitability of enterprises and individual miners, with the company restricting Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) from operating within its borders. However, Kazakhstan continues to pursue the launch of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) using blockchain as the underlying technology.
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