TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) wants to invest NT$100 billion (US$3.16 billion) in an innovation fund to train more than 500,000 AI experts by 2040, reports said Saturday.

The president broached the subject during a speech at the opening of the 2026 AI Talent Forum at Taipei’s World Trade Center, per CNA. The government is already helping 1 million small, medium, and micro enterprises to enhance their competitiveness through digital transformation, he said.

Lai emphasized that AI was not the future, but the present, with the new technology not only transforming business production methods in a new industrial revolution, but also ways of life. While many were still doubting the benefits of AI, it was already thoroughly changing talent requirements, according to Lai.

The president emphasized that the government’s aim was not to turn Taiwan’s 23 million residents into computer programmers, but to teach them how to use AI positively. No matter what kind of educational background, if one could learn from other disciplines, AI would be able to help individuals and businesses.

Taiwan’s strength should not just be based on the number of nanometers for its semiconductors, but also on how each citizen can use AI, according to the president. The country could not afford to miss the AI train, as it was a unique opportunity for growth and transformation, he concluded.