With the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, developing sovereign AI has become an important issue for many countries to protect their digital sovereignty.
A country needs to independently develop and control AI technology and infrastructure to avoid relying on foreign technology and ensure that their economy, culture and society are free from foreign influence.
With the rise of China’s AI capabilities, Taiwan must be prudent and develop its own sovereign AI to ensure national security and technological autonomy.
In Taiwan, although there is a Chinese-language version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, using it comes with some problems.
Due to disparities in size, population and the amount of materials online between Taiwan and China, only a small proportion of data used to train ChatGPT’s Chinese-language AI model is from Taiwan.
As a result, the tone, terms and cultural background of ChatGPT’s Chinese-language AI model are more like the language used in China.
For example, for the word meaning “lean,” ChatGPT’s Chinese-language version uses the word used in China, “jingyi” (精益), rather than the word used in Taiwan, “jingshi” (精實).
For “digital transformation,” it uses China’s “shuzi zhuanxing” (數字轉型), rather than Taiwan’s “shuweizhuanxing” (數位轉型).
For “sustainable development,” it uses China’s “kechixu fazhan” (可持續發展), rather than Taiwan’s “yongxu fazhan” (永續發展).
For “through,” it uses China’s “tongguo” (通過), rather than Taiwan’s “xiuguo” (透過).
These subtle differences could gradually influence the language spoken in Taiwan, which could eventually shape people’s views and cultural preferences.
China has developed its own AI in recent years, launching large language models (LLMs) such as Ernie Bot (文心一言).
If Taiwanese begin using such products on a large scale, China would not only be able to shape their thinking patterns, but also influence Taiwan’s society, culture and values.
Such cultural infiltration would pose a threat to the nation’s digital sovereignty and likely damage its democratic resilience.
To defend its digital sovereignty, Taiwan must begin developing its own AI technology and infrastructure. The Trustworthy AI Dialogue Engine (TAIDE) led by the National Science and Technology Council is an important start.
Based on Meta’s open-source language model Llama 3, TAIDE is trained with traditional Chinese language data, giving TAIDE local language advantages when processing Traditional Chinese conversations.
Through this move, Taiwan can avoid the erosion of its language and culture by foreign technologies and provide AI services more in line with local needs.
However, there are still deficiencies with the model training data and scale of TAIDE. More localized data is needed to improve its understanding and communication capabilities.
Many countries are developing their own sovereign AI, including France and the UK, which have invested resources into developing AI that reflects their language and culture.
France’s Mistral AI and the UK’s BritGPT are typical examples. Likewise, Singapore is partnering with Nvidia Corp to develop the SEA-LION LLM model specifically designed for Southeast Asian languages and cultures, demonstrating the importance of sovereign AI.
The role of government cannot be ignored. Government can lead the development of AI through the digitization of public services. Singapore’s Pair project, which uses generative AI to reduce the workload of civil servants and ensure data security, is a successful case that Taiwan can learn from.
Taiwan should boldly experiment with and implement AI technology to improve the efficiency of its public services and aid the development of the TAIDE.
This would help the nation maintain its autonomy and resist the impact of foreign technologies on its culture and society.
Liao Ming-hui is an assistant researcher at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
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