Governments across Asia are setting the foundation for AI governance.
‘ASEAN is coming out with a digital economy framework. They also have gone into digital partnerships with individual countries.’
Singapore stands out in its approach to AI.
‘Singapore took the lead in creating a foundational framework for ASEAN data management. They built a structure and developed the first generative AI governance framework globally. This is fantastic for our strategic deployment of AI.’
Go deeper: Each country is moving in a different direction.
‘We see a fragmented approach to creating an AI ecosystem in Asia. Each country is going its own way.’
‘India feels that any new AI regulations or control would adversely impact their IT workforce. Korea will regulate AI at least on high-risk countries. Japan will not come out with a strategy or even regulate AI. On the other hand, Thailand is working on a law governing AI.’
Divergent approaches across Asia may mirror what happened with data privacy laws.
‘The EU created the GDPR, becoming the reference law for all Asian countries. But what each country finally implemented was something totally different from GDPR.’
The EU has created the AI Act, and each Asian country may try to convert it into something local.
‘When you localise, you end up having different regulations in each country. That's the biggest challenge we have from a compliance perspective.’
The bottom line: Fragmentation may slow AI’s implementation across Asia.
‘AI is the next productivity improvement frontier. But the largest challenge is the fragmented approach to AI.’
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