Jordan ranks 80th globally on 2021 Government Artificial Intelligence Readiness Index

AMMAN — Jordan ranked 80th globally and 11th regionally on the 2021 Government Artificial Intelligence Readiness Index, released by Oxford Insights.

Oxford Insights is a British institution which aims to “help global governments capitalise on the latest innovations in technology and leadership,” according to its website.

According to the report, the Index assesses governments’ “readiness to implement artificial intelligence (AI) in the delivery of public services” in 160 countries.

It draws on 42 indicators, covering 10 dimensions, including Vision, Governance and Ethics, Digital Capacity, Adaptability, Size, Innovation Capacity, Human Capital, Infrastructure, Data Availability and Data Representativeness, the report said.

As for the three main pillars that make up the index, the report showed that Jordan scored 38.26 in the Government pillar, 38.31 in Technology Sector and 56.56 in Data and Infrastructure.

Globally, the average was 47.42, and the US ranked first with an overall score of 88.16 followed by Singapore and the United Kingdom, while Yemen came in last with an overall score of 17.93, “reflecting the instability, war, and famine that have devastated the country”, the report stated.

In the MENA region, where the average score was 49.68, according to the report, Jordan ranked 11th with an overall score of 44.38, while the United Arab Emirates came in 1st with an overall score of 71.60.

The report said that “the majority of the countries in the region have medium to low scores in the Government pillar (with a regional average of 49.63),” noting that this pillar is a “priority”.

The Human Capital dimension, which has a regional average of 41.09, is the region’s second priority, the report added.

“Developing digital skills among the region’s people should be an important focus area. The comparative youthfulness of the region is an asset,” it said.

The third regional priority, according to the report, relates to promoting “data availability and data representativeness”.

The report also emphasised the global impact of COVID-19, particularly on the education sector, as various countries developed e-learning platforms, such as “Darsak” in Jordan. It noted that this reflects “broader commitments to digitising government services”.

The report’s findings noted that there is “a continued proliferation of national AI strategies globally”.

“We have found that 30 per cent of the countries included in our rankings now have a national AI strategy and a further 9 per cent have confirmed they are drafting one,” it said.