Benefits of AI outweigh drawbacks says minister

Artificial Intelligence (AI) will not replace human intelligence but rather boost human ingenuity, the Deputy Minister for Research, Innovation and Digital Policy said on Tuesday.

Philippos Hadjizacharias was speaking at a workshop titled Artificial Intelligence as a factor for creating growth prospects.

The junior minister said AI can and should be used as a tool in the ongoing ‘digital transformation’ of the state.

“To compete on an equal footing with other economies and keep Cyprus’ competitiveness at high levels, we need to bring in smart, innovative and competitive solutions aimed at growth and improvements across a broad socio-economic spectrum,” he said.

There exists a great deal of scope for deploying AI in areas such as healthcare, search and rescue, surveillance (to combat crime and national security threats), and education, he added.

“And I’d like stress that the benefits that AI can offer are far greater than any potential drawbacks,” stressed Hadjizacharias.

He acknowledged the potential pitfalls of using AI, which is why a legislative framework is needed to regulate this activity.

In this respect, the junior minister referred to EU legislation on AI in the pipeline.

Hadjizacharias noted that Cyprus has had a National Artificial Intelligence Strategy in place since 2020.

The strategy was modeled on the European Commission’s Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence, published in December 2018.

The 2020 text of the national strategy on AI expressed concerns over Cyprus’ position in the area of digital skills. It particularly noted that at the time Cyprus ranked poorly in the EU’s Digital Economy and Society Index (Desi).

The latest edition of Desi (2022) ranked Cyprus 20th among 27 EU member states. The report noted that the island “has improved its performance in almost all Desi dimensions, although in most cases it still scores below the EU average. The most marked progress has been made in Connectivity, Integration of Digital technology and Digital public services.”