THE Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) said it is hopeful the government can issue an executive order (EO) this month creating the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Council.

Economy Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon said the National AI Governance Framework has been finalized and approved by the National Innovation Council, the policy body created under the Philippine Innovation Act to coordinate the country's innovation agenda.

"After that, we have a proposal for the creation of a National AI Council through an executive order," she told reporters on the sidelines of a briefing on Monday.

She expressed the hope that the EO could be issued within two weeks.

If issued as proposed, the EO would put a formal coordinating body behind the finalized framework, charged with overseeing how its strategies and policies are carried out in a coherent manner.

Under the proposal, the council would oversee technical working groups (TWGs) for each of the six pillars of the AI Governance Framework: enabling resources; research and development and data; capabilities; building expertise in AI; infrastructure support; and demand generation.

Taken together, the pillars cover the inputs to AI development — enabling resources, research and data, and infrastructure support — alongside human capability-building and demand generation on the adoption side.

"We don't know yet how the final EO will come out. But our proposal is to have a TWG for each of these pillars. And that there will be a private sector representative for this," she said.

Ms. Edillon added that the private sector is set to play a role in implementing the framework's standards and assurance mechanisms, citing third-party certification as an example.

She said the proposed council's principal task would be to oversee the implementation of the framework and ensure that its strategies and policies are carried out in a coherent manner.

"That's the role of the council. Just to make sure that the strategies and the policies that have been identified in that governance framework, that it will be put in place," she said.

With the framework's approval settled, the open questions are structural: how the final EO shapes the council's composition and mandate, and whether the proposed TWGs and private sector representation carry through into the signed order.

Background

The National Innovation Council was established under Republic Act No. 11293, the Philippine Innovation Act, which took effect in 2018. DEPDev, formerly known as the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), serves as the Philippine government's primary agency for socioeconomic planning and policy coordination.

The planned council forms part of the government's effort to put formal governance structures in place for artificial intelligence, a policy direction that numerous governments around the world have pursued in recent years. — Justine Irish D. Tabile

Source: BusinessWorld — DEPDev backs EO to create National AI Council