APEC Artificial Intelligence (AI) Initiative (2026-2030)

A. Advancing Successful AI Transformation within APEC: Successful AI transformation requires coordinated approaches within and across member economies. This goal aims to establish the strategic orientation necessary for successful AI transformation at both economy and APEC-wide levels.

i. Voluntary Review: Encourage voluntary economy-level AI readiness and impact reviews to better understand each economy’s own current state of AI development and adoption and identify priority areas in line with each economy’s stage of digital and AI development.

ii. Stakeholder Collaboration: Encourage collaboration of all stakeholders across APEC fora. Promote the exchange of a wide range of perspectives to foster an enabling environment for AI innovation and promote opportunities for all segments of society. Explore possibilities of cross-economy public-private partnerships, especially for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), to facilitate AI transformation across the region and foster research collaboration to jointly advance innovation, where appropriate. 

iii. Policy Exchange: Promote the voluntary exchange of knowledge on best practices and policies aimed at AI development and adoption across sectors and relevant policy areas. Facilitate benchmarking opportunities and the sharing of best practices and comparative insights and build an innovative ecosystem to unlock the potential of AI in various economic sectors, acknowledging the importance of enabling all economies to contribute to and benefit from AI-driven innovation.

iv. Secure and Reliable Adoption: Continue efforts to enhance security, accessibility, trustworthiness and reliability in realizing the benefits of AI for all with balanced and human-centered approaches to our workforce, education, and capacity-building policies.

B. Building AI Capacities at All Levels: The transformative potential of AI can only be fully realized when all stakeholders possess the necessary knowledge and skills to engage with AI technologies effectively. This goal focuses on strengthening AI-related capabilities across all sectors of society to ensure that all, including those facing barriers to accessing AI, can participate meaningfully in the AI-driven economy, thereby laying the foundation for a society where everyone benefits from technological advancements and AI is leveraged to enhance the well-being of all our people. 

i. Public Sector Capacity: Leverage and support economies’ efforts to develop and deploy AI tools in public services to enhance its quality and access. Encourage efforts to upskill public sector personnel to accelerate the adoption of AI in the public sector, thereby improving administrative efficiency and organizational performance. 

ii. Private Sector Capacity: Share best practices to promote sector-specific AI adoption and foster an enabling environment for innovation, cooperation, and digital transformation, including for MSMEs and startups. Support efforts to strengthen digital and AI literacy among businesses through tailored capacity-building initiatives. 

iii. Workforce Capacity: Encourage lifelong learning for all and share information on effective upskilling and reskilling programs for human resources development to prepare our respective workforces to take advantage of the opportunities of AI, taking into account the varying levels of digital and AI literacy and foundational AI knowledge. Such efforts should also aim to support workers to navigate the AI transition, including access to opportunities in the labor market. 

iv. Consumer Capacity and Trust: Support economy-level initiatives that aim to enhance basic digital literacy and AI readiness among the general public. Encourage efforts to advance AI access for all and promote public awareness on responsible use of AI, leading to strengthened consumer confidence in AI applications. 

v. Regional Cooperation on Capacity Building: Leverage combined expertise and resources to bridge gaps in AI capacity and explore mutually beneficial partnerships to ensure that all economies can strengthen their capacities for AI innovation and application, and fully participate and benefit from AI transformation. Encourage initiatives that integrate local knowledge, culture, and languages. In this context, acknowledge Korea’s decision as host economy to establish an Asia-Pacific AI Center, which will be self-funded and independently operated by Korea, to promote AI-related capacity building and innovation and facilitate information-sharing in the region, as well as similar initiatives and efforts of other economies.

C. Cultivating an Investment Ecosystem for Resilient AI Infrastructure: Comprehensive AI transformation requires significant investment in infrastructure, including digital connectivity infrastructure such as cloud computing and data centers, and energy infrastructure such as power sources and grids that can support AI development and its widespread adoption. Acknowledging that effective and sustainable investment in AI infrastructure necessitates coordinated efforts across relevant stakeholders, APEC economies should enhance efforts to create an enabling environment for investments in resilient infrastructure for AI.

i. Public Policy: Recognize that the growth in the adoption and use of AI relies on the deployment of high-quality, affordable, secure and resilient communications and AI infrastructure facilitated through collaboration among member economies and the private sector. Recognizing the increasing demand for data, take appropriate measures to upgrade digital infrastructure to meet demand for data in an energy and resource-efficient manner that benefits all. 

ii. Private Sector: Encourage voluntary private sector efforts to promote investment in secure and resilient AI infrastructure and in this regard, note APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC)’s work toward this goal. Encourage private sector efforts to leverage the innovative potential of AI in energy systems through applications such as predictive analytics, demand management, and energy optimization to enhance energy system efficiency, security, and reliability.

iii. Investment Collaboration: Facilitate dialogue between the public sector, business, and other stakeholders to explore opportunities for expanding investment in resilient infrastructure for AI across the region, including through public-private partnership models, with the aim to bridge digital divides and maximize the benefits of AI.