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By Fábio Rua, director of ABES and co-founder of Movimento Brasil, País Digital

 
 

We are living in those rare moments in history when the technological base already developed is accelerating in such an incredible way, that whoever is left behind will lose any chance to grow and prosper, whether as an individual, company or nation.
 
In the past two years, several countries have announced and are already advancing national strategies for the development and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Not surprisingly, since AI systems adopted or driven by governments are the main driver of the digital economy and can contribute to the democratization and improvement of public services, individualization of education, combating corruption, drug trafficking, arms, in addition to reducing inefficiencies in health, in the countryside and in cities.
 
In Brazil, the subject has great potential to gain traction over the next few months. Recently, the MCTIC (Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications) announced a partnership with UNESCO to start drafting an integrated Artificial Intelligence plan.
 
As the theme is complex and requires a good deal of debate and reflection, before being incorporated into the priorities of a country, I elaborated ten quick points that should be considered in the process of building a strategy that encourages Brazil to stand out in the race for development and adoption of AI in an ethical and human way:
 
1. Support the development of digital skills, enabling students and professionals to realize the economic opportunities that Artificial Intelligence is already bringing to all of us.
 
2. Promote the development of applications that solve society's most critical problems and, at the same time, reduce inequalities and expand the range of economic opportunities for all;
 
3. Encourage the use of experimentation platforms that bring together various stakeholders, such as communities, industries, academia and governments, to test Artificial Intelligence for social impact;
 
4. Expand research funding mechanisms that prioritize collaboration between humans and machines;
 
5. Create groups of specialists interested in developing Artificial Intelligence applications responsibly;
 
6. Provide scholarships and exchanges for researchers and developers willing to train AI to identify and mitigate possible sources of bias in the data being analyzed;
 
7. Open government data, respecting the rules of privacy and confidentiality. Note: If we want applications that truly contribute to addressing the most critical problems in our society, we must end the old (and outdated) maxim that information is power and start to consider and understand that in the 21st century, power comes, in the reality, sharing this information;
 
8. Adopt global standards of security, explanability, equity and transparency, as well as recognize and differentiate companies that apply such standards in their technological developments;
 
9. Invest in basic and applied research, in attracting the best brains in Brazil and in the world, and, once and for all, in the structuring of an agile intellectual property institute, ready to stimulate the development of technology in the country as well;
 
Finally, all levels of government should, yes, invest in the best platforms available in the market, in order to stimulate a smarter decision-making process so that they can better allocate our resources, prioritize actions, integrate systems and, mainly, contribute for building a more digital and less unequal nation. 

 

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