The Jordan Strategic Forum released a policy document titled “Technology and Artificial Intelligence: Jordan’s Opportunity to Enhance Productivity” to highlight key ideas related to artificial intelligence and its impact on the future of work. It also indicates Jordan’s readiness to adopt artificial intelligence technologies based on the results of the governments’ readiness for artificial intelligence report for 2023. The paper included several proposals to enhance Jordan’s productivity through the use of artificial intelligence.
The forum mentioned in its report that adopting artificial intelligence methods to improve business organizational structure will accelerate the implementation of major projects for future services in line with the desired vision for economic modernization. It will also contribute to progress in initiatives related to government service elements, procedures, and digital transformation processes within a plan to renew and develop the public sector.
The study highlighted the interconnection between “digital transformation” and “artificial intelligence”, where the former term refers to the use of technologies to bring about development and improvement in work methods within entities, through the application of modern technology and ambitious business operations and methods that enhance efficiency and increase production levels. While the concept of artificial intelligence is a specialized arm within digital transformation, involving the deployment of advanced machines capable of learning, reasoning, and performing tasks that usually require human intelligence.
In this policy paper, the forum conducted a thorough study of the research paper issued by the International Monetary Fund in 2024 entitled “Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work, 2024”. The study assessed the potential impact of artificial intelligence on global labor markets.
The forum discussed the significant findings extracted from this study, which indicate expectations of artificial intelligence affecting around 40% of jobs worldwide, potentially replacing some and supporting others. This underscores the need to strike a balance between employment-related policies and technology adoption to benefit society. Additionally, it is expected that the percentage of jobs impacted by artificial intelligence in advanced economies could reach up to 60%. This impact is likely to have a positive effect on half of them by integrating artificial intelligence into operations, increasing employee productivity. In emerging markets, jobs are expected to be affected by approximately 40%, while low-income countries may face an impact on jobs of around 26%.
The study presented the results of the governments’ readiness index for artificial intelligence in 2023, which seeks to determine the readiness levels of governments of 193 countries covered in the report to deal with artificial intelligence. This was assessed based on three key elements: the government itself, the technology sector, as well as infrastructure and data resources.
The global level results showed that the United States topped the countries covered in the report, followed by Singapore, the UK, Finland, and Canada in that order.
Regionally, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries ranked in the top four positions within the list of participating Arab countries; the UAE led the list, followed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman respectively, with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan ranking fifth in the Arab region.
The results presented in the research paper indicated that the progress level of Arab countries on the performance index has seen moderate improvement. Eleven Arab countries, including Jordan, were shown to be among the top 50% of leading countries in the 2023 report, compared to only nine countries in the same category in 2020.
At the Jordanian level, the forum mentioned a clear development achieved in the past four years thanks to Jordan’s adoption of policies and technologies related to artificial intelligence in many sectors. This development has positively reflected on the performance level
Jordan ranked among governments’ readiness index for artificial intelligence, as Jordan advanced in the 2023 report by an increase of 5.1 points compared to 2022, placing Jordan fifth and fifty-first out of 193 countries. The results indicated that Jordan surpassed the average performance of countries in the 2022 and 2023 reports, after performing below average in 2020 and 2021. Jordan has shown significant improvement over the past four years, climbing 24 spots between 2020 and 2023. Thus, it has joined the top 30% of participating countries in terms of performance. Jordan managed to secure the fifth position among Arab countries in 2023, surpassing Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, and Tunisia, compared to being ninth in 2020. Jordan exceeded the average Arab performance concerning performance based on the 2023 report, surpassing its previous lower position in the 2020 report. When comparing Jordan with other countries of medium to low income, Jordan ranked second after India in performance, surpassing the overall performance average of those countries by a margin of 20.5 points. The forum’s document pointed out that Jordan’s progress in the 2023 ranking can be attributed to significant improvements in the “Infrastructure and Data” and “Technology Sector” fields, with an increase of 10.8 and 4.4 points respectively compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, Jordan has maintained its almost equal level in the third field, “Government,” with results being the best among the three fields with a total of 67.6 points. The forum noted the significant progress in the “Government” sector compared to other sectors over the past four years, rising by a total of 32.4 points from 2020 to 2023. This development is attributed to enhanced performance in three key dimensions within that sector, namely the “Vision” dimension following the launch of the “Jordanian Artificial Intelligence Strategy and Action Plan for 2023-2027”, along with dimensions related to “Governance and Ethics” and “Digital Skills.” The Strategic Forum in Jordan conducted a comparative analysis of Jordan’s performance in various indicators against the best-performing countries in the region (such as the UAE) and countries with medium to low incomes (like India), aiming to identify strengths and weaknesses in Jordan’s performance. Through this analysis, the forum sought to formulate practical recommendations to enhance Jordan’s ranking in those indicators. The study results indicated that Jordan has achieved positive outcomes in several areas, including artificial intelligence strategy, ethical standards, the time needed to address governmental legislations, the number of graduates in science and technology fields, the expansion of 5G network infrastructure, and bridging the gender gap in internet usage. Conversely, Jordan witnessed modest performance in several indicators, such as urging the government to invest in emerging technologies, the volume of information and communication technology services traded per individual, the total value of technological goods trade per individual, IT skills levels, telecommunication infrastructure development, and mobile phone penetration rate. The forum concluded its policy paper by presenting a set of recommendations aimed at supporting Jordan in efficiently leveraging artificial intelligence, and enhancing its position in relevant international indicators in this field. These recommendations included improving access to broad and reliable communication and fast internet services across the kingdom, covering all regions and societal strata at reasonable costs, to drive local development, digital inclusion, and productivity enhancement. It is expected that these improvements will lead to positive outcomes such as increased job opportunities and improved job status. The forum emphasized the importance of conducting periodic assessments to understandTo what extent are governmental and private institutions equipped to incorporate modern technology in the field of artificial intelligence within their production processes? The emphasis was placed on the necessity of utilizing the outcomes of these assessments in formulating effective public policies that combine support for technological advancement and its implementation on one hand, and enhancing economic growth and social development on the other.The forum highlighted the importance of initiating campaigns for education and organizing training workshops that address the principles of artificial intelligence and the necessity of integrating it within production processes. It also stressed the need to adhere to ethical standards, laws, and necessary security precautions to regulate its use.
The forum pointed out the significance of incorporating artificial intelligence technologies into educational curricula from elementary levels to university levels in order to foster generations capable of meeting the high-efficiency workforce demands. It also drew attention to the importance of supporting investment in information technology infrastructure and modern artificial intelligence. It urged efforts to attract leading companies in this industry to operate at the local level.
The forum underscored the importance of supporting scientific research and applied technologies related to artificial intelligence and modern technologies. It called for incentivizing the establishment of partnerships between universities at both local and international levels to develop research and scientific curricula in these areas. It also emphasized the importance of establishing connections between companies operating in industrial and technological fields with the aim of directing studies and research towards enhancing production processes. Additionally, it stressed the need to focus on increasing government spending on research and development in the upcoming national budgets to bolster efforts aimed at accelerating the digital transformation.
Lastly, the conference emphasized the importance of creating a supportive environment that encourages risk-ready investors to inject funds into modern technology initiatives and developing the financial market to make it characterized by abundant and inclusive funds. This will encourage successful emerging companies to go public after two consecutive years of cash profits, in addition to activating investors in venture capital to place their funds in these companies and have the ability to withdraw their investments easily.
(The Kingdom – International Monetary Fund)
