Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said the State will build a national AI supercomputing and data center to research, train, and develop Vietnamese models to reduce foreign dependence.
Responding to delegates’ opinions at the discussion session at the National Assembly on the afternoon of November 27, Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung said the bill Artificial intelligence built according to the framework law, inheriting international experience to meet the requirements of both controlling risks and creating space for innovation. Detailed technical regulations will be assigned to the Government to issue to ensure flexibility in the context of rapidly changing technology.
He believes that AI governance is essentially intelligence governance, similar to the way society regulates people’s use of knowledge when affecting the community. Intelligence is formed from formal education and information, so input data will be managed with Data Law and Personal Data Protection Law; AI businesses must disclose legal data sources; AI systems must assess risks, be independently verified, and be accountable.
Regarding output, the State applies safety standards, post-inspection mechanisms and sanctions for violations. “AI governance is not about inventing a completely new mechanism, but inheriting human intelligence management experience and applying it to a stronger and faster tool,” the Minister said.
He emphasized the highest principle of human-centeredness; AI serves humans, does not replace decision-making power. Transparency is a must and people must know when they are interacting with AI. Liability when AI systems cause damage will be divided between developers, suppliers, deployers and users.
The State will build a national AI supercomputing and data center for research and training; Encourage Vietnamese language models and digital data to reduce foreign dependence. AI in public services and sensitive fields must run on Vietnam’s AI infrastructure. Priority sectors include public administration, health care, education, agriculture, industry and transportation.
Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung spoke before the National Assembly on the afternoon of November 27. Image: Hoang Phong
The Minister agreed to manage AI according to three levels of risk: low, medium and high. Regarding the question of whether AI is a source of extreme danger or not, he said that the source of extreme danger is usually inherently dangerous physical means such as cars and explosives. Even if the user is careful, it can still cause an accident. AI in this draft law is not a physical device that causes danger, but a risk from decision making.
According to the Minister, AI brings great benefits but also risks and many problems of AI can be solved by AI itself such as training human resources, detecting ethical violations or identifying deepfake. “AI and its problems will always exist. We do not eliminate them but live together and govern wisely,” he said.
Controlled testing mechanisms with AI are needed
Delegate Hoang Minh Hieu (Law and Justice Committee) assessed that the drafting agency had fully explained the opinions of delegates in the group discussion and agreed with the approach of both promoting AI development and controlling risks. According to him, a controlled testing mechanism (Sandbox) is necessary because AI is a new field, involves many industries and is difficult to apply effectively if only based on the current legal framework.
The goal of the Sandbox is to temporarily remove legal barriers, allowing testing of models within a limited scope to collect data to prove effectiveness, thereby perfecting long-term regulations. This approach is consistent with the “institutions go first” legislative thinking, paving the way for innovation. He suggested that the bill needs to provide more specific provisions on this mechanism.
Delegate Thach Phuoc Binh (Vinh Long delegation) agreed with the direction of promoting Sandbox, open data and computing infrastructure. He proposed prioritizing testing for health, education, finance and public administration; Determine enterprise selection criteria, testing period and transparency mechanism.
According to him, the State needs to support small businesses and startups in accessing national computing infrastructure, especially GPUs and supercomputers, through subsidies or free limits. Delegates also proposed building a national open data warehouse and a fair data sharing mechanism to meet security requirements; At the same time, deploy specific policies to attract and retain AI talent from university levels to international experts.
Delegate Hoang Minh Hieu, in charge of the Law and Justice Committee, spoke at the parliament. Image: Hoang Phong
Criminally handle the act of intentionally deploying high-risk AI without testing
Delegate Pham Trong Nhan mentioned the fact that in just 10 months, China has filed more than 62,000 AI patents, 12 times the total patents of Vietnam so far; The US attracts more than 40 billion USD of private capital into AI by 2024, while 99% of the platform models Vietnam is using are foreign. This is a strong warning about digital sovereignty and the risk of technology dependence.
In the context of AI being the soft infrastructure of national productivity, can Vietnam accept being just a consumer of other people’s data and applications? – Mr. Nhan raised the issue and said that if Vietnam is not proactive, Vietnam will be left behind in the global value chain. There are three major risks present including data inequality and privacy; bias and lack of transparency in AI-powered decisions; and deepfake both manipulate perception. In the first 9 months of 2025, the world recorded more than 180,000 political deepfake videos, of which 41% targeted leaders of developing countries.
“Just a few seconds of fake video can seriously damage reputation and social security,” he said, suggesting 6 directions, including applying risk-based management with 4 classification levels; protect civil rights; Require foreign platforms with over 5 million users to have legal entities in Vietnam; establish the AI System Safety Committee under the Prime Minister; real-time update mechanism; and strong enough sanctions, including criminal sanctions for intentionally deploying high-risk AI without testing and without transparency.
Delegate Pham Trong Nhan also emphasized that the bill is not just a technical document but a declaration of Vietnam’s development thinking, aiming to turn AI into a new driving force, new strength and new competitiveness of the country.