- Malta, a small Mediterranean island that attracts wealthy tourists, could become the next AI center.
- The company uses AI to automate tasks, improve education, and solve transportation problems.
- Malta aims to become an AI hub by 2030, and the small country is already home to 56 startups.
Silicon Valley isn't the only hotspot for the AI boom.
The tiny Mediterranean island nation of Malta is embracing the technology, with its businesses, universities and government embracing AI to automate tasks, improve education and even solve rush-hour traffic jams.
The country, with a population of just over 500,000, is already home to 56 AI startups, or one startup for every 9,500 people, according to startup-tracking firm Tracxn Technologies. Meanwhile, the United States, with a population of more than 330 million, has roughly 24,000 AI startups, or one for every 14,000 residents, according to Tracxn.
The country has long been a hotspot for wealthy tourists, and its “golden passport” program, which offers citizenship to wealthy foreigners in exchange for a certain investment, was the second-most popular foreign passport program among Americans last year.
And even before the ChatGPT AI arms race began, the company had started pouring money into artificial intelligence.
In 2019, Malta outlined its vision to become the “ultimate AI launch pad” by 2030. The goal was for Malta to be “a place where local and international businesses and entrepreneurs can develop, prototype, test, scale AI and ultimately showcase the value of their innovations across the country when they are ready for deployment.” AI would be a “springboard from Malta to the world.”
Those efforts stalled during the pandemic and a change in government. Now, Malta is working on a new AI strategy based on the EU's AI law, a comprehensive regional AI law that bans unacceptable use cases, Bloomberg reported.
Those at the heart of this new effort are focused on deploying the technology safely. They are developing initiatives to combat job losses and ethical frameworks, for example.
“Malta's foresight in recognising the importance of AI put it ahead of the pack and it remains an industry leader today,” Alexei Dingli, a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Malta who is leading Malta's efforts including the traffic congestion project, told Bloomberg.
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