Page 40 - Informatics, October 2020

International eGov Update

USA tops AI readiness index Tackling technological inequality
The index draws attention to variations between higher-income countries
and lower- or middle-income ones, with the former consistently achieving
he USA has been named as the country best prepared to realise the higher AI readiness scores. No countries in Africa, Latin America, South Asia,
benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in public service or Central Asia are listed in the top 20, for example.
T delivery, topping the 2020 Government AI Readiness Index. Meanwhile, “AI has real potential to transform governance and public services
Singapore, which led the 2019 list, has fallen to sixth place. throughout the world, from healthcare and education to security. However,
The index – compiled by UK-based consultants Oxford Insights and there is also a danger that nations and regions, particularly in Africa, Latin
Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) – examines America and parts of Asia, will be left behind,” said IDRC president, Jean
how well-placed nations are to take advantage of the benefits of AI in Lebel.
their internal operations and the delivery of public services. This year, 172 He added: “This year’s index and report highlights the current strengths,
countries were reviewed. weaknesses and barriers to governments’ AI readiness and responsibilities,
The ranking measures AI readiness across three criteria: government which we hope will stimulate further sharing of expertise, opportunities,
willingness to adopt AI, and the ability to adapt and innovate to do so; tools and policies among governments and stakeholders and across borders,
availability of AI expertise and tools from the technology sector; and as well as encourage new collaborations and investment. We believe that
capabilities in building AI tools, providing them with high-quality data, and this, in part, will help those currently lagging in our index to improve their
building them into public services. AI readiness so that existing economic and technology inequality doesn’t
The leading nations – the top five performers are the USA, the UK, Finland, become further entrenched and leave billions of citizens with worse quality
Germany and Sweden – scored highly in all categories. However, the report public services.”
found that some of the world’s most AI-ready countries, including the USA, National AI strategies
UK, Singapore and Russia, perform badly when prioritising and practicing The report also shows that there is a growing commitment to AI across
the responsible use of AI. the world, with a proliferation of new national and international AI strategies
The ‘Responsible Use Sub-Index’ measures nine indicators across published in the last year: 50% more have been published relative to the
four criteria drawn from the OCED’s Principles on Artificial Intelligence: previous year. “This illustrates an intent across countries as diverse as
inclusivity, accountability, transparency and privacy. On this measure, the Egypt, Serbia and Colombia to exploit AI’s potential to enhance and improve
top five nations when it comes to responsible AI use are Estonia, Norway, governance and society,” the report says.
Luxembourg, Finland and Sweden. The USA, meanwhile, is in 24th place and For example, Singapore launched its AI strategy in November 2019; the
the UK in 22nd. European Commission and member states published their plan to foster the
“Taking a lead from countries in the Baltic-Nordic region such as Finland development and use of AI in December last year; and Indonesia announced
and Estonia, there must be a greater focus on data representativeness and its national AI strategy in August.
protection, privacy legislation and national ethics frameworks to protect There are also several new cross-border regional initiatives aimed at
citizen’s rights and prevent unfair and discriminatory outcomes for certain encouraging governments to share good practice and take a more proactive
groups in society,” said Oxford Insights CEO Richard Stirling. approach, such as IDRC’s AI for Development (AI4D) project, which supports
“AI is transforming how countries are governed so it will become regional initiatives across Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
increasingly important that governments, while capitalising on AI’s potential,
also have protocols and regulations in place to ensure implementation is Source: https://www.globalgovernmentforum.com
ethical, transparent and inclusive,” he added.

AI is helping mobile operators to cope with pandemic demand

rtificial intelligence is helping telecoms operators boost the RAN
capacity of their 4G networks by 15 percent. More people than ever are
A relying on telecom networks to work, play, and stay connected during
the pandemic. Operators are doing all they can to ensure their existing
networks have enough capacity to cope with demand.
Gorkem Yigit, a Principal Analyst at Analysys Mason, said:
“Video streaming continues to experience high year on year growth and
that has been exacerbated by the pandemic and resulting lock-downs,
Yes, 5G grabs the spotlight, but 4G is carrying the brunt of this traffic. So,
while investment in 5G infrastructure continues, operators need intelligent
ways to maximize and extend existing 4G network capabilities in the short to
medium term – keeping their CAPEX to a minimum.”
8 out of 10 of the world’s largest operator groups have deployed traffic
management technology from the Openwave subsidiary of Swedish firm
Enea. Many of these have since been upgraded to include machine learning
capabilities. Machine Learning has given existing 4G networks the shot in the arm
Openwave claims that, based on its figures, some operators faced a 90 they needed. It can work dynamically without external probes or changes to
percent surge in peak throughput during lockdowns. the RAN, delivering additional capacity at a time that operators most need
Machine learning is helping to predict and identify congestion in the it.”
RAN (Radio Access Network) which resides between user equipment such as The use of machine learning has increased operators’ 4G RAN capacity
wireless devices and an operator’s core network. by 15 percent in congested locations—providing further evidence of how AI
John Giere, President of Enea Openwave, commented: technology can be used to quickly tackle real-world problems.
“Conventional mobile data management requires manual configuration
and network investment – it is no longer fit for purpose. Source: https://artificialintelligence-news.com

40 informatics.nic.in October 2020