The Iraqi Center for Economic and Political Affairs An open invitation to the government and relevant authorities in the Iraqi state to propose the establishment of an independent ministry or body specialized in artificial intelligence in Iraq .
The director of the center, Wissam Hadmal Al-Helou, said: “There is a need to establish an independent ministry or body specializing in artificial intelligence in Iraq, given the rapid scientific development in the world and what is related to this issue in all sectors that touch the lives of Iraqi citizens in general .”
He pointed out that “the proposal is based on several components, including investing in what will be produced by the population census scheduled to be conducted on the 20th and 21st of this month, investing in statistics, numbers, and evaluating the work and plans of the relevant institutions and sectors, and investing in work in artificial intelligence in the field of education and economic work in all commercial, industrial, and investment sectors, especially the Internet sector, telecommunications companies, the tourism companies sector, hotel reservations, transportation, aviation, and reservation systems in general, and at the same time contributing to increasing banks’ dealings with electronic payment services, internal and external financial transfers, trade names, company registration, automation, and digitization of work in the country in general .”
He explained that “the importance of the proposal requires the concerted efforts of a number of ministries and agencies, a number of state institutions and the private sector, and the nomination and attraction of specialized government cadres from within state institutions so as not to impose a new financial burden on the state budget, and at the same time allocating awareness programs with media institutions in all their diversity, written, visual and audio, in order to create a clear and simplified image that is in harmony with the nature, personality and reality of the Iraqi citizen .”
He continued, “State institutions can invest in this sector in order to protect everything related to the country’s security and in various fields that this sector offers. Artificial intelligence is a double-edged sword, which requires delving into this field and investing in its positive side and limiting its bad investment in the areas of fraud, piracy, forgery, and content fabrication, and working to enhance cybersecurity and other sectors. Not to mention that the country has gone through several variables since the years before 2003 and the events that followed after the change and security conditions and others, all of which require the country to be advanced with what is happening in the world, especially in the field of technological development, the latest of which is artificial intelligence.”
