Govt adopts national programme on AI by 2025
Ljubljana, 27 May - The government adopted on Thursday the national programme on encouraging the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) by 2025 and put the Public Administration Ministry in charge of coordination and implementation of measures from the programme.
In line with the government decision, the ministry in cooperation with other ministries must prepare a plan for the implementation of measures and the plan of financing, as well as the sources of financing.
The ministries were also tasked with including the measures from the national programme into their strategic guidelines and documents in line with their financial capabilities.
By adopting the national programme Slovenia is meeting its obligation in line with an EU declaration it signed on 10 April 2018.
Based on the declaration, which the EU Council confirmed in June 2018, the EU prepared a plan on AI that is the basis for EU-level and national activities. The European Commission then called on countries to draw up national strategic documents in this field or include this into their existing documents.
Slovenia must form a number of supportive measures, increase financial support, coordinate all activities and encourage the public and private sectors to prepare for the social and economic changes that come with the development of AI in Slovenia, the government said.
Public Administration Minister BoĊĦtjan Koritnik announced at the first meeting of the members of the global partnership for AI last December that Slovenia was working on a national AI plan. He said the document would serve as a basis for activities on the national and international levels.
Koritnik also pointed to Slovenia's presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of 2021, stressing that digitalisation, especially AI, would receive special attention.
The Public Administration Ministry's directorate for information society and computer sciences subsequently prepared a draft national plan in cooperation with key stakeholders.
The Strategic Research & Innovation Partnership for the Smart Cities and Communities, uniting over 130 companies and research institutions, assessed in January that the national programme would help Slovenia use its potential to improve the lives of citizens, boost the economic competitiveness and equip the society for the challenges ahead.