“Hungary would like to benefit from the opportunities afforded by artificial intelligence, and would like to be one of the winners of these technological changes”, Minister for Innovation and Technology László Palkovics declared on Tuesday at the University of Debrecen, where he presented the country’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy.

Mr. Palkovics said the Strategy, in the development of which over 250 member organisations of the Artificial Intelligence Coalition (AIC) and over thousand experts took part, determines what activities are necessary for its realisation via the designation of fundamental principles, technological focus areas, and projects.

“Based on the strategy, we must prepare Hungarian society and the Hungarian economy for the fact that this technology is coming, this technology is already here, and that we must do our best to use it”, the Minister declared.

From among the elements of the Strategy, he highlighted Hungary’s participation in the development of automated, self-driven vehicles, explaining that Hungary has already done a lot in this field; a test track has been constructed, training and research programs have been launched, and a research centre has also been established.

From among areas “that make our everyday lives easier”, Mr. Palkovics highlighted administration, when we primarily come across robot-like artificial intelligences that assist us on site when submitting forms, for instance at the post office, government service centres or the customer service stations of banks, in addition to which we may also use artificial intelligence to regulate irrigation within the field of agriculture, for instance.

“We must rapidly bring this technology close to people”, the Minister said, noting that artificial intelligence is based on data, it makes decisions based on suitable data, and accordingly in future people will not only have wallets for money, but also for “data wallets”, which will make administration much easier.

Mr. Palkovics, who presented the most important elements of the strategy together with President of the AIC Roland Jakab, said that by 2030 artificial intelligence could be responsible for 11-14 percent of Hungary’s gross domestic product (GDP).

With relation to the organisational background of the Artificial Intelligence Strategy, he said a National Data Asset Agency (NDAA) will be established in Budapest, that would fit into the the administration’s structure, while the analysis of data will occur in Debrecen, where a new supercomputer will be put into commission at the University of Debrecen.

From the field of research and development, the Minister highlighted the fact that the National AI Laboratory, through which the country would like to become involved in as many world-famous research projects as possible in future, has already been established.

“Hungary is committed to the realisation of the Strategy, has joined the Finnish initiatives, and has set as its goal for at least 10 percent of the country’s population, some one million people, to have at least some level of knowledge concerning artificial intelligence, and for one percent of the population, some one hundred thousand people, to receive training and to acquire knowledge with relation to the new technology within the framework or training courses”, Mr. Palkovics added.

Explaining the details of the Strategy, Roland Jakab indicated that parallel to the announcement in Debrecen, Hungary’s Artificial Intelligence Strategy has also been published on the world wide web, and is available on the ai.hungary.com website.

The region’s Member of Parliament Lajos Kósa (Fidesz) highlighted the fact that the government has decided that there will be Hungarian artificial intelligence centres in two cities, Budapest and Debrecen, and as a result the Hajdú Bihar County capital has set foot onto the “highway to the 21st century”.

“We will be good hosts for research & development”, the politician added.

(Ministry for Innovation and Technology / MTI)