Vice President Hsiao Meiqin attended the opening ceremony of the "2026 Taiwan Artificial Intelligence Annual Conference" this morning (18th) and said that in the face of the rapid development of AI, Taiwan should strengthen independent AI applications and data governance, and actively participate in international co-creation and global AI governance, taking into account the values ​​of technological innovation, security resilience and people-oriented. We hope to combine Taiwan’s advantages in semiconductors, information security, and democratic practices to make Taiwan not just a chip island and a hardware island, but also a republic of AI innovation and value.

In his speech, the Vice President said that he was very pleased to be invited to attend the opening of the "Taiwan Artificial Intelligence Annual Conference" for the third time. AI has developed very rapidly in recent years, and there have been many new breakthroughs in the application and development of related technologies. I believe that when the "Taiwan Artificial Intelligence School" was founded, it was hard to imagine that artificial intelligence would make such extraordinary progress in just 8 years.

The Vice President pointed out that the theme of this year's annual conference is "AI Autonomy and International Co-Creation." Earlier, Dean Chen Jianren of Academia Sinica and Chairman Liao Junzhi of the Taiwan Artificial Intelligence School Foundation specifically mentioned the need to establish independent AI applications in Taiwan. As AI becomes smarter and its iteration cycle becomes tighter, we need to establish Taiwan’s autonomy in applying AI.

The Vice President said that Taiwan has unique advantages, especially the world's most advanced semiconductor manufacturing energy, which is also an indispensable core engine that drives global AI computing. In addition to playing this role, we hope that Taiwan's true autonomy will not only be based on hardware and computing power, but also need to master data management and cultural values.

The Vice President further stated that the government has recently promoted the "Top Ten New Constructions of AI", whether it is the provision of computing power, data management, talent training, the establishment of an innovation ecosystem, or the development of forward-looking technologies, including quantum computing, silicon photonics technology and smart robots, as well as applications in various industries, etc., are all important and indispensable links for AI autonomy and complement each other.

The Vice President also emphasized the importance of data governance. He said that any model without sufficient data will have operational problems. Therefore, the Executive Yuan specially established a "Sovereign AI and Data Governance Group", led by the Vice President, with the deputy heads of various ministries and commissions serving as "Chief Data Officers" and forming a "Chief Data Officer Alliance". Starting from data that does not involve personal information, the government will actively inventory and release "AI-Ready Data" that is in line with Taiwan's values, providing sufficient corpus for Taiwan's exclusive sovereign AI training. At the same time, relevant laws and regulations will also keep pace with the times, and we hope that in the future, Taiwan will be able to implement comprehensive data management as the basis for the implementation of sovereign AI.

The Vice President pointed out that promoting data governance not only enables the introduction of AI into government operations, but also hopes to provide sufficient data and open structures so that society, private sector and enterprises can have good governance as an important foundation in the process of developing AI in various fields such as technological development, humanities research, administrative processes and medical care.

Talking about "international co-creation", the Vice President said that autonomy and co-creation are not mutually exclusive, and autonomy does not mean closedness. In addition to developing core technologies, Taiwan also needs to participate in the "international open source community" and the formulation of global AI governance standards. In the "International Co-Creation" team, global AI cannot operate without Taiwanese chips; therefore, we cannot only act as chip providers, but also become core starters in governance and international co-creation. In addition to chips, the experience accumulated in information security protection, resilient system design, applications in various industries, and Taiwan's democratic practice can all make irreplaceable contributions through the spirit of combining software and hardware, so that the world not only sees Taiwan, but also needs and relies on Taiwan.

The Vice President said that although AI brings great convenience, it also needs to face the risks and challenges it brings. If a country does not have the ability to prevent misinformation generated by AI, deep fake technology, cognitive operations, or cyber attacks on infrastructure, no matter how advanced technology is, it may become a double-sided sword that erodes social trust and democratic institutions. Therefore, President Lai particularly emphasized the "defense resilience of the whole society", which includes the resilience of information communications and infrastructure. The "Artificial Intelligence Basic Law" implemented by the government this year is a dual engine that takes into account innovation and security, and exports trustworthy AI systems that protect human rights and are human-centered to the world, making Taiwan's legal governance and information security defense the strongest foundation for global trust.

The vice president went on to say that while strengthening technology, governance and defense resilience, the government is also very concerned about the balanced development of various industries. Taiwan's science and technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, and it is hoped that the results of development can be shared with other fields. On the agenda of today's annual meeting, "Enterprise Application and Governance" and "Humanistic Application and Reflection" sessions are also planned to discuss various social ethics and impacts. It is hoped that technology and humanistic care will complement each other so that the rapidly developing AI technology will not lose its "people-oriented" direction.

Finally, the Vice President once again thanked the Taiwan Artificial Intelligence School, participating experts, scholars, and private partners. He also pointed out that Taiwan is not only a chip island and a hardware island, but also a republic of AI innovation and value. He hopes that today's agenda will inspire more possibilities for future dialogue and cooperation. He also wishes the conference a complete success and hopes that the experts present will continue to lead Taiwan with AI and make Taiwan greater together.

Including National Security Council Advisory Committee Member Li Yujie, Deputy Minister of Digital Development Hou Yixiu, Yang Jialing, Ambassador-at-large Chen Zhengran, Chairman of the Association for Foreign Trade Development of the Republic of China Huang Zhifang, Chairman of the Taiwan Artificial Intelligence School Foundation Liao Junzhi, etc. all attended the event. Chen Jianren, President of the Academia Sinica, also attended the meeting via video.