KATHMANDU, Jan 1: The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MoCIT) has reached the final stage of drafting Nepal’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy. Top-level bureaucrats of the ministry informed Republica that the policy’s draft will be ready within a ‘few days’ and unveiled to the general public within two weeks.
A technical committee formed by the ministry, which prepared a concept paper on AI usage and practice in July after nearly five months of study, has reached the final stage of drafting the policy. According to Joint Secretary Anil Kumar Dutta, chief of the Information Technology Division of the MoCIT and a member of the committee, the AI policy is being drafted currently, with the possibility of finalizing it within a few days.
“By now, we have received the suggestions and we are in the final stage of drafting the policy,” Joint Secretary Dutta told Republica, “The draft will be ready within a few days, possibly this week.” He added that it might take up to two weeks for the draft to be published by the ministry.
Media Council as conscience builder
Despite the global rise in the development and usage of AI, Nepal lacks policies and laws concerning the novel technology. As a first step, MoCIT had formed a five-member technical committee on January 24 headed by Joint Secretary Dutta with members including Under Secretary Narayan Timilsina and Computer Engineer Surya Prakash Upadhyay from the MoCIT, IT Director Pabitra Dangol from the Department of Information Technology, and Associate Professor Dr. Baburam Dawadi from the Institute of Engineering.
After five months of ideation and discussion, MoCIT published a concept paper on the use and practice of AI to establish a foundation for formulating necessary policies and laws. The report suggested that the government should create necessary policies, laws, and procedures for the development, usage, and regulation of AI.
The concept paper was published on the ministry’s website calling for feedback from stakeholders and the general public in July. “We published the draft to invite feedback from the public and the stakeholders,” Joint Secretary Dutta said, “Of the feedback we received, we have attempted to integrate the genuine ones in the policy.”
Highlighting the need to address cyber security, data protection, and privacy at the policy level, the report recommended drafting a national AI policy to establish a legal framework for data protection, privacy and security of AI usage and users, and setting benchmarks that align with international standards.
Spokesperson for the MoCIT Gajendra Kumar Thakur informed Republica that the AI policy under development by the technical committee has integrated all of the key ideas included in the concept paper and additional suggestions from stakeholders. “We have taken the feedback from stakeholders such as the private sector and academia into consideration while drafting the policy,” he said.
Spokesperson Thakur added that the AI policy has significant economic importance as even international organizations have forecast the AI sector to have an increased share of the global GDP. “The World Bank made a forecast in 2022 that the AI sector will encompass 7.5 percent of the global GDP by 2030,” Thakur told Republica, “Other countries have already taken a lead in formulating policies regarding AI, we should not lag behind in exploring the potential of AI.”
Deputy Spokesperson for the MoCIT Krishna Prasad Sharma Subedi highlighted the necessity of the AI policy in Nepal citing its unregulated rampant use in the past few years. “A significant number of developing countries have already come up with AI policies in order to regulate the rampant use of AI across economic sectors,” Under Secretary Subedi told Republica, “We are not simply trying to catch up with the trend of developing countries but regulate the use of AI in Nepal.”
