AI must become the national intellectual infrastructure for Vietnam to break through and develop sustainably.

Speaking at the workshop “Unlimited power and unpredictable challenges of artificial intelligence (AI)” on September 15, 2025, Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung affirmed: Vietnam is facing a historic opportunity to break through and become a developed country through AI transformation. AI is not just a technology, but must become a national intellectual infrastructure, like electricity, telecommunications or the Internet, serving people, promoting creativity, increasing productivity and national competitiveness.

The Minister emphasized that the philosophy of "AI and AI problems" are inseparable twins, and Vietnam will develop AI in a humane, safe, autonomous and inclusive direction, while affirming: AI is a tool, humans are still the center and subject of all decisions.

The Ministry of Science and Technology's Electronic Information Portal respectfully introduces the Minister's speech at this event.

Minister Nguyen Manh Hung spoke at the workshop "Unlimited power and unpredictable challenges of artificial intelligence (AI)".

Vietnam issued its first AI Strategy in 2021. But AI is a rapidly changing field. This strategy needs to be updated. By the end of this year, we will have an updated AI Strategy and AI Law. This is not only a legal framework, but also a declaration of national vision, AI must become the country's intellectual infrastructure, serving the people, developing sustainably and enhancing national competitiveness.

AI is an intellectual infrastructure. AI is not just an applied technology, it is becoming a type of national infrastructure, like electricity, telecommunications or the Internet. Whoever masters AI will have a superior advantage in production, business, healthcare, education , national governance, and even national defense and security. Vietnam must have a Vietnamese AI intellectual infrastructure. Vietnam will quickly build a national AI supercomputing center and open shared AI data. We will implement AI like electrification, but we will AI faster, as fast as possible. Popularize AI, popularize AI education, like the previous English learning movement. Every Vietnamese person will have a digital assistant, the population will not increase but social intelligence will at least double.

Regarding open AI technology. Vietnam is committed to developing and mastering digital technology , including AI, based on open standards and open source code. This is not only a commitment but also our strategy: Open to develop and master Vietnamese technology, to Make in Vietnam, and also to contribute to humanity. Open to use other people's knowledge and to create a higher level for others.

Regarding creating a domestic AI market for development. Without applications, there will be no market. Without a market, Vietnamese AI enterprises will remain small. Therefore, promoting AI applications in enterprises, in state agencies and key areas is the fastest way to develop AI, to create Vietnamese AI enterprises. The government will spend more on AI, the Natif Technology Innovation Fund of the Ministry of Science and Technology will spend at least 30-40% to support AI applications, and issue vouchers to small and medium-sized enterprises using Vietnamese AI. The domestic market is the cradle to create Vietnamese AI enterprises.

About AI transformation. We are not talking about AI applications, but about AI transformation. AI transformation is a process of comprehensively restructuring the operations of organizations, industries and countries based on artificial intelligence, aiming to create new capacities in management, production, innovation and sustainable development. Talking about AI transformation affirms that this is a strategic, national-scale process, similar to "industrialization" or "digital transformation". Talking about AI transformation means taking transformation as the focus.

Regarding Vietnam's opportunities. With a young, dynamic, and tech-savvy population of 100 million, Vietnam has the conditions to be both a fast user and a creator of AI products for itself and the world. Vietnam is a developing country, the Party and the State are setting very high goals, many challenges and big problems are emerging, and this is an opportunity for AI. The Prime Minister has issued a list of strategic technologies, in which AI is the key technology that we will prioritize resources for development. We can go faster thanks to: National AI computing infrastructure, data ecosystem, Make in Vietnam digital technology enterprises and a research force, startups, a young community that loves technology. AI startups will be an important driving force for AI development in Vietnam.

AI also poses challenges and responsibilities. AI opens up great opportunities, but also raises many issues about ethics, employment and social trust. Therefore, we must develop AI that is fast, safe and humane. AI is for humans, not replacing humans but serving humans, AI is an assistant to humans. AI is a powerful tool, but humans are the decision-makers, let AI support, not replace human thinking, values ​​and responsibilities.

Regarding policies and institutions, we will issue a national AI ethics code, in line with international standards but tailored to Vietnam's realities, and develop an AI Law and AI strategy based on the following core principles:

First, manage by risk level.

Second, transparency and accountability.

Third, put people at the center.

Fourth, encourage domestic AI development and AI autonomy.

Fifth, take AI as a driving force for rapid and sustainable growth.

Sixth, protecting digital sovereignty. Data, infrastructure, and AI technology are the three strategic pillars of digital sovereignty.

An important feature of the fourth industrial revolution is the balance between the power of the giants (big tech) that own core technology and the advantage of countries/enterprises that understand local context, language, culture and possess specialized data to make specialized applications. In the digital transformation era, technology is global, but data is local. Important specialized applications must run on Vietnam's AI infrastructure. There is a global AI infrastructure but also a national AI infrastructure. There are global platforms but also national platforms. There are global applications (like ChatGPT) but there are also countless national applications. The combination of global and national will help our world develop more sustainably. And this will be an opportunity for developing countries like Vietnam. The advantage of Vietnamese enterprises is Vietnamese data, Vietnamese problems, its advantage is open source AI, and its fundamental advantage is Vietnamese people, Vietnamese intelligence, and the flexibility and adaptability of Vietnamese culture - which is the most necessary and important thing in an era where technology is creating rapid and breakthrough changes.

We are also having to officially define the path of AI development in Vietnam. If we had to say one word about this path, it would be "and". Global and local. Cooperation and autonomy. Big Tech and Startup. Technology and application. Elite and mass. Use and mastery. Creation and control. Global infrastructure and national infrastructure. Open data and protected data. Platform AI, general-purpose and AI customized for each field. Big AI and small AI specialized for each task, each organization. Generative AI and analytical AI. Open technology and closed technology, both integrated to learn and contribute, and autonomous to master and protect national interests.

The rapid and sustainable development of AI must be based on the word "and". Human history has mainly used the word "or", now it is time for the word "and" to become the focus. The level of human civilization corresponds to the level at which we know how to put the word "and" instead of the word "or". AI development will have to be based on four pillars, which are also very important "and"s: AI institutions, AI infrastructure (computation, data, algorithms, models), AI human resources and AI culture. Transparent AI institutions, modern AI infrastructure, high-quality AI human resources and humane AI culture.

There is another "and", which is AI and the problems of AI. The power of AI may be greater than nuclear energy, and therefore, its problems may be greater than atomic bombs. But AI and its problems are twins, like yin and yang, like two sides of a coin, relying on each other to coexist and develop, and they transform each other. AI's problems can be solved by AI itself, for example, training AI human resources with AI technology itself, detecting AI ethical violations with AI itself. AI grows up with the problems it creates. Without AI problems, there would be no AI maturity. AI and its problems are a great "and". AI and its problems will always exist, we cannot eliminate them, but must live with them and manage them wisely.

AI is a great opportunity for Vietnam to rise up and become a developed country with high income, on par with the world powers. All the countries that have transformed into dragons and tigers are countries that have taken advantage of the opportunities of the new industrial revolutions. In the past, due to war, we missed those opportunities, but now, the country is at peace, Vietnam has escaped poverty and become an upper middle-income country, the 32nd largest economy in the world, we have enough conditions to seize this opportunity, focus all resources to AI Vietnam, to double Vietnam's intelligence, increase labor productivity, double-digit economic growth, increase national competitiveness, improve national governance capacity and better protect Vietnam, making Vietnam stand shoulder to shoulder with the world powers.

The Vietnam AI Manifesto is: Transformative - Humane - Safe - Autonomous - Collaborative - Inclusive - and Sustainable.

And finally, AI is a powerful tool, but humans are the ultimate decision makers, let AI support, not replace human thinking, values ​​and responsibilities. AI is an assistant to free up human labor for creativity, for more valuable work, and that is where humans are better than AI.

Nguyen Manh Hung, Minister of Science and Technology

Source: https://mst.gov.vn/ai-phai-tro-thanh-ha-tang-tri-tue-quoc-gia-de-viet-nam-but-pha-va-phat-trien-ben-vung-19725091515584732.htm