Nepal prepares its first concept paper on AI use

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, July 4: For the first time, the government of Nepal has prepared a concept paper on the usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Despite the global rise in the development and use of AI, Nepal lacked policies and laws on the technology. 

Therefore, the government prepared the concept paper to establish a foundation for formulating necessary policies and laws.

A technical committee formed by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology prepared the concept paper after nearly five months of study. 

Following the direction of Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma, the Ministry had formed a five-member technical committee headed by Joint Secretary Anil Kumar Dutta. 

Other members included Under Secretary Narayan Timilsina from the Ministry, IT Director Pabitra Dangol from the Department of Information Technology, Associate Professor Dr. Baburam Dawadi from the Institute of Engineering, and Computer Engineer Suryaprakash Upadhyay from the Ministry as the member-secretary.

The committee, formed on January 24, 2024, submitted the concept paper to the Ministry amidst a function held at the Ministry on Wednesday. 

The report suggests that the government should create necessary policies, laws, and procedures for the development, usage, and regulation of AI in Nepal. 

Highlighting the need to address cyber security, data protection, and privacy at the policy level, the report recommends drafting a national AI policy, preparing a national strategy, establishing a legal framework for data protection, ensuring privacy and security of AI usage and users, and setting standards that align with international benchmarks.

The report also recommends developing an integrated national portal for AI-related information exchange, prioritising research, development, and utilisation in the same field, accelerating programmes to promote AI usage, and creating national projects and sectoral initiatives to harness AI's transformative nature for socio-economic development. 

Under Secretary and member of the technical committee, Narayan Timilsina, said that the report also called for the promotion of privacy protection, transparency, and accountability, enhancing research, investment, and collaboration in AI usage.

The report emphasises identifying existing human resource and enhancing their capabilities, suggesting that the availability of skilled personnel in both public and private sectors is crucial for AI development, usage, and promotion. 

Therefore, it recommends focusing on human capital development in this field, said Timilsina.

The report suggests utilising AI in various sectors such as disease prevention and treatment, financial services and analysis, construction and production, education and development, communication and experience enhancement, organisational management, government services, social security, sports, research and development, agriculture, and tourism. 

It states, "The current state of the AI development ecosystem in Nepal, potential areas for promotion, research and development capacities, and the way forward need to be assessed." 

The national strategy should set future plans for major sectors like healthcare, agriculture, education, smart cities, infrastructure, smart mobility, and transportation.

The AI strategy should include data and digital infrastructure, financial arrangements to accelerate AI startups, research and development, ethics, data privacy, security and regulation, skill and capacity building for human resources, technology industrialisation, and sectoral initiatives, as suggested by the report. 

Under Secretary Timilsina said that the report encompasses Nepal's future direction based on the study of AI background, concept, ecosystem, basic principles, perspectives, objectives, existing state, policy arrangements, institutional and usage status, international practices, and strategies.

The report includes a comparative analysis of AI usage strategies issued by entities like the European Union, United Nations, Nordic-Baltic region, UAE, India, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore, and South Korea.