Malta is ‘a bit late’ to the AI train, says MDIA CEO

The CEO of the Malta Digital Innovation Authority (MDIA), Kenneth Brincat, has told The Malta Independent on Sunday that Malta is “a bit late” in integrating artificial intelligence into daily life.

Brincat said this while discussing the MDIA’s National AI Strategy, which was initially established in 2019, and its ongoing Vision Realignment to bring this AI strategy up to speed with contemporary needs, given the newly gained knowledge on AI’s growing capabilities. He said that today, people don’t want to use AI solely for economic gain, but rather as a tool to assist in various aspects of life.

“In 2019, the idea was that AI drives our economy. Now we are updating it and shifting it towards the idea that AI should be a tool which helps our societal wellbeing and our quality of life,” the MDIA CEO told this newsroom. He added that incorporating AI into this societal wellbeing should be accompanied by economic growth as well.

Narrating this need to realign the vision of Malta’s National AI Strategy, the chief executive said that mechanisms are in place to update this policy strategy every year.

The MDIA was established in 2018 to regulate underlying technologies for cryptocurrencies (mainly blockchain), though has since evolved to become a regulator for the country’s whole digital innovation sector.

After commenting that “in AI especially, I’ll be honest, we are a bit late”, Brincat stated that the National AI Strategy was published with an eye towards 2030 over an 11-year plan, which he said requires updating over such a long period. Brincat mentioned that with AI’s rapid growth, such updates need to happen once every year or two.

He observed that the original National AI Strategy was launched in late 2019 with the aim of being a launch-pad for artificial intelligence in the Maltese islands, beginning through a focus on public administration, “so that the private sector follows”. Over 80% of its measures have been implemented, while from the remaining 20%, many were rendered obsolete as AI evolved around modern societies. For example, certain clauses referring to language eventually became obsolete due to the emerged nature of what came to be large language models (LLMs).

Brincat noted that the National AI Strategy features measures related to sports, culture and the arts and the health sector, among others. Referencing AI’s controversial nature within the art world, he said that “there are measures in the updated AI Strategy that tackle such issues” like AI’s “interference” in artists’ work and use in films.

Positively, Brincat shared that a government pilot project where AI was used to develop personal programme for students was “very successful” from what he was told. Just a few weeks ago, on 7 July, the CEO of the Institute for Education, Joanne Grima, told this newsroom about her hope for artificial intelligence to be used to help bolster the education sector by providing each and every student with a personal programme in schools.

When asked about Grima’s comments, Brincat responded that such a project has already come to life within the Ministry for Education, through a pilot project conducted between 2023 and 2024. He described this project, which is one of six such projects headed by Prof. Alexei Dingli, to be “perfectly about designing the learning outcomes, individually, per student”.

He said he’s been informed that the first phase of this pilot project, where maths was the sole subject used, was successful enough for the ministry to try and adapt this for other subjects. Mathematics was selected as the first subject for these tests since AI algorithms synchronise well with the computational science.

Brincat said that with the European Union’s AI Act coming into force next year, further AI projects related to education will need to pass a conformity assessment process before proceeding. The EU AI Act will be first legislative framework for which the MDIA will have a mandatory regime to implement.

The AI Act specifies what kinds of actions involving AI have minimal risk, limited (low) risk, are high risk, or are prohibited under this EU law. “AI solutions used in education institutions that determine the access to education and course of someone’s professional life” are classified as high-risk towards infringing on people’s fundamental rights. The higher the risk marked of an AI action within the AI Act, the more serious the ramifications may be if used irresponsibly.

AI will result in the displacement of jobs

One of the most salient points in discussions on artificial intelligence is the notion that AI is going to take over and result in the loss of many jobs. MDIA CEO Brincat acknowledged that risk to be true, though remarked that he believes we will observe a displacement of jobs in certain areas, rather than an outright technological replacement of man.

“The risk is there – it’s present, it’s true. But I believe there will be a displacement of jobs. In certain areas, yes, AI will take over, but there will be other jobs which will create AI, especially in the technology sector,” he said.

He recalled how a similar job displacement occurred in the banking industry with the introduction of ATMs leading to the reduction of cashiers but more people working in areas related to money laundering and compliance following reskilling and upskilling efforts.

“If a company decides to have an AI solution rather than have a data-inputting clerk, it’s a known risk,” Brincat said.

As people within technological sectors speak about artificial intelligence entering the workplace and displacing people’s jobs, Malta’s government is working to grow the size of the public sector. These efforts are being motivated through the arguably unnecessary expenditures involved in hosting the annual Public Service Expo. The 2025 edition of the Public Service Expo exceeded €1.6 million in costs, surpassing 2024’s Public Service Expo costs by hundreds of thousands of euros.

On this subject, the MDIA head was asked on the government’s efforts to keep growing the public sector when many such jobs could be replaced by artificial intelligence at some point in the future. Brincat commented that “the Public Service administration is trying to deploy as much AI into its systems, and in the future, I would see a decrease in the employment of people”. He added that a displacement of jobs will be observed in the public sector too, saying that more people will probably be needed to manage these growing technologies at entities like MITA, the MCA and Xjenza Malta.

“It’s not about numbers – it’s about the right skills you would need,” Brincat said.

Malta as ‘Blockchain Island’ and other digital innovation proposals

During this interview, artificial intelligence was discussed as a core emerging technology to the future of the world. In its powerful emergence over recent years, people from all walks of life have rushed to try it out. This is not the case for several emerging technologies within the digital innovation sector, despite several other creations garnering a lot of hype.

Despite past calls for Malta to become a “Blockchain Island”, blockchain comprises not more than 5% of the MDIA’s works, its CEO told this newsroom. He attributed blockchain’s lack of economic success in Malta to a matter of trust, explaining that its association with cryptocurrencies makes people look away, even though it is very secure and almost impenetrable to hackers, he said.

Investments into the Metaverse and in NFTs were briefly considered back in 2022 – before and after that year’s general election. Before the last election, the Nationalist Party proposed for Malta to invest over €1 billion to try and generate new economic sectors, including through serious investment into the Metaverse. A few months later, Economy Minister Silvio Schembri said that Malta could place itself as a “good and trusted jurisdiction” for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). As of 2025, both the Metaverse and NFTs have garnered intense financial losses, losing most of their hype and attraction since.

In this regard, Brincat was asked whether politicians tend to jump the gun to invest in what is trending in the digital world. Brincat noted that while “sometimes, it’s part of their job”, he does not think that politicians make these announcements/comments rashly. Brincat said that politicians want to be innovative and place Malta at the forefront of innovation, which is what has led to such proposals looking poor in hindsight.

While the PN wasn’t elected to fulfil its proposed serious investments into the Metaverse, the Labour administration has never invested in NFTs. Brincat commented that since NFTs, as a technology, have not grown since the sector’s hype grew to a global scale, he sees no reason for Malta to invest in it now – especially over other technologies within the digital innovation sphere, such as quantum or cybersecurity. He also called for investments in compliance jurisdiction and conformity assessments to abide by Vision 2050.

Brincat admitted that he probably would have replied differently with regards to NFTs, “because at the time, they were becoming very popular”.

On the metaverse, which has accumulated approximately $70 billion in losses since its announcement, Brincat still doubts how much more it can grow.

“I don’t see [the metaverse] as sustainable or as something that can help the economy grow. I see it more as an assisted tool in education, tourism, etc., rather than as a sustainable tool which will help the economy,” Brincat stated.

While discussing these technologies, Brincat declared that Malta must remember to proceed with efforts to make emerging technologies climate conscious, that is, environmentally-friendly.

“If we want as a country to enhance our technology infrastructure, we need to also mitigate the climate challenges that there are, because unfortunately, technology is not that climate conscious and we’ll have to think about having such infrastructure which mitigates such risks and challenges – because the challenges are there,” Brincat said.

He noted that many discussions are being held around the world about this, especially since powerful computers running artificial intelligence “are not climate conscious” and require a lot of water to cool down their systems.

The MDIA keeps this in mind in all its works, he said. Brincat said that the MDIA’s premises is energy-saving in its materials and lighting. He also said a new high-performance computer within its Digital Innovation Hub (DiHubMT) requires significant air-conditioning from several large units to keep its temperature down when operating. These units are going to be powered by solar panels, marked for installation.

This Digital Innovation Hub is a space where start-ups and SMEs may be assisted in their business journeys. Brincat said that the main scope of this space is to have “an ecosystem in Malta which enriches the digital innovation sphere”. DiHubMT’s premises – Malta’s European Digital Innovation Hub – opened last November and already has around 30 start-ups using its facilities.

Through this hub, the MDIA does not only regulate digital innovation – it actively promotes it. The idea behind this approach is to ensure that Malta has a digital innovation market in which SMEs, investors, entrepreneurs, academics, students, etc., can collaborate with one another for the betterment of the sector.

On top of providing its physical space, including access to facilities and labs free of charge, the Digital Innovation Hub also assists parties to gain access to funding and provides mentorships in technology to teach business skills and entrepreneurial skills so that start-ups can fully develop their ideas into businesses themselves.

Brincat said the MDIA also helps bring this community together by organising networking events for its roughly 130-140 start-ups.