HCM City (VNS/VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City must focus on research anddevelopment of artificial intelligence, especially training human resources inAI, experts have said.

Duong Anh Duc, vice chairman of the city People’s Committee, said the aim wasto promote R&D in AI applications in the next five years.

AI is increasingly used in various fields like transportation, public security,production, finance, and e-commerce.

The city hopes to annually increase by 20 percent the number of scientificworks, AI patents and AI applications, and to invite leading foreign AI expertsto work in the city.

While AI technologies are used in many sectors in the city, research andtraining are weak compared to other places in the world, and it also lacks AIexperts, scientists and policymakers, according to the official.

According to a master plan for developing IT human resources, Vietnam needs onemillion workers in the field but only 600,000 IT students are trained at 400higher educational institutes and eight major IT training centres as of the endof last year.

Statistics from the Institute of Information Technology Strategy show 72 percentof IT students lack practical experience while 42 percent are weak in teamwork. Only 15 percent of IT graduates meet their employers’ requirements and donot need much further training.

The country has more than 700 IT companies, 220 of them foreign-owned, mostlybased in major cities or software parks.

Despite the huge likely demand for AI experts in future, the field hasattracted little attention in the country, and no university offerscomprehensive courses in it.

Most curriculums only focus on software.

Experts said the city should catch up with global AI trends by investing intraining and building an open-source database.

It should establish AI departments at universities and develop new courses,they said.

It should encourage businesses to embrace AI to enhance their competitiveness,and solicit investment in and promote AI products made locally, they said.

It should set up AI hubs that include training centres connected with oneanother through the city’s data centre and infrastructure, they added.

Vu Hai Quan, director of the Vietnam National University of HCM City, said thecity should develop an AI research and training team, build digitalinfrastructure, offer incentives to encourage enterprises to use AI, andimprove human resources in AI.

Linkages between the state, businesses, scientists, and investors should alsobe promoted, he said.

The city should focus on developing start-ups and small and medium-sizedenterprises (SMEs) in the field, he added./.