Two Countries Pilot “AI for Social Good” in Asia
The public sector in Southeast Asia is increasingly recognizing the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance services and solve problems in the social, economic and environmental domains.
This is evidenced by the recent onboarding of two governments, Thailand and Bangladesh, into the AI for Social Good project launched by the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), UN ESCAP and Google.org in mid-2021.
Thailand's Office of National Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Policy Council (NXPO) will be collaborating closely with the National Electronics and Computer Center (NECTEC), the National Science and Technology Development Agency and the Institute of Field Robotics (FIBO).
The Bangladesh government is represented by the Bangladesh Aspire to Innovate (a2i) Programme, which the country's ICT Division manages.
Pilot projects
In Thailand, the government aims to focus on poverty alleviation through the use of decision-making systems that are data-driven and accessible to public welfare. The Australian National University (ANU) will spearhead the project focusing on making these technologies accessible to the general public and designing them around human needs to ensure a successful rollout.
Healthcare is another focus area of the project. The National University of Singapore (NUS) will lead the research and analysis to identify the critical bottlenecks and gaps impeding the successful deployment of AI technologies in medicine and healthcare. NUS will also provide technical support for pilot projects that leverage AI to improve patient care.
The Bangladesh government, through the a2i program, will be focusing on pilot projects in the areas of healthcare and smart cities.
The two Bangladesh pilot projects are focused on the need for continuing and personalized pregnancy monitoring to improve health outcomes during and after birth. NUS & KAIST are leading a team investigating challenges in perceptions and reception of incorporating AI into continuous pregnancy monitoring systems. The second project, which the University of Hawai'i Team heads, focuses on how technology in Bangladesh's healthcare sector affects data analysis and decision-making processes based on AI.
“Recognizing that AI offers transformative solutions for achieving the SDGs, we are pleased to participate in the AI for Social Good Project to share experience and research insights to develop enabling AI policy frameworks,” said Dr. Kanchana Wanichkorn, NXPO’s vice president.
“It has been incredibly rewarding to lead a project that brings together such an impressive, multidisciplinary group of researchers with government agencies that are so passionate about finding solutions to crucial problems – ranging from poverty alleviation to maternal health care. The process of working closely with government agencies from the outset to discuss these problems and co-design research questions makes this project unique and genuinely collaborative. I’m very proud to be part of it," said Toni Erskine, professor of international politics and director of the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at ANU. Erksine is supervising the projects, ensuring that both projects meet the highest standards of academic integrity.
Image credit: iStockphoto/photocheaper
