Data has become the “strategic fuel” in the global AI race, determining the competitive strength of each and every economy. However, as AI increasingly depends on large-scale datasets, governments now face a critical question: how should data be governed to both foster innovation and protect citizens’ privacy.
According to Mr. Ronni K. Gothard Christiansen, CEO and Founder of solutions provider AesirX, Europe is confronting this challenge more clearly than ever. Long known for having one of the world’s strictest data protection frameworks, especially the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the EU has realized that its existing legal barriers could cause the bloc to fall behind the US and China in AI development. As a result, the European Commission has proposed a new legal draft aimed at reshaping data governance in the AI era.
Mr. Christiansen said the newly-announced draft loosens the GDPR’s data protection rules to allow AI greater access to data. But relaxing data protection will not necessarily help Europe catch up with the US or China, In fact, it may allow the largest AI companies to accumulate even more data and widen the gap.
For Vietnam, he believes that over the next one to three years, building Vietnamese-language large language models (LLMs) could give domestic firms an advantage due to better understanding of the Vietnamese language and culture. However, at the current pace of development, global big tech AI systems may reach a deep contextual understanding of Vietnamese culture within just two to three years. Companies like OpenAI and Meta have massive financial resources, whereas Vietnam’s remain relatively limited.
Additionally, many financial experts and analysts are warning that AI may be approaching a “bubble.” Nearly all investment funds want to pour capital into the technology, but many AI companies simply build “copy-paste” products and do not own core AI models. “In my view, this is a moment when Vietnam, or any developing country, must be extremely cautious in balancing AI development and data protection,” Mr. Christiansen said. “We cannot sacrifice everything just to chase a race we have little chance of winning in the long run.”
He added that with the Law on Personal Data Protection, the Law on Data, the Law on AI, along with the Law on Cybersecurity and others, Vietnam is generally establishing “a fairly strong legal foundation to protect personal data.”
Strategy & stewardship
Speaking to Vietnam Economic Times / VnEconomy on the sidelines of the VinFuture Science and Technology Week 2025, Professor Toby Walsh, Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, said that with data at the core of AI, overly tight rules risk slowing innovation while overly loose rules create new dangers. Without quality data, he said, there can be no quality AI, and data remains the industry’s greatest “commercial asset.”
However, regarding data usage, he stressed that “we need a fair and sustainable solution for feeding data to AI,” noting that his books and the works of many global authors have been used to train large AI models without consent or compensation. This, he said, is a clear violation of intellectual property rights and a worrying reality.
Associate Professor Luu Anh Tuan from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, who also serves as Executive Director of the VinUni Center for AI Research, said Vietnam benefits from being a latecomer, as it can learn from developed countries, avoid mistakes, and choose suitable measures. However, he also warned that policies should not simply copy foreign regulations, as each country has unique cultural, historical, and educational contexts.
He suggested that policymakers build a legal framework informed by global practices but adapted to Vietnam’s realities, focusing on data standardization and safe data-sharing mechanisms such as model transparency rules, personal data protection, system risk governance, and safe testing environments for domestic firms. Regulation should balance safety and innovation and be applied according to risk levels.
For businesses, Associate Professor Tuan recommended investing in high-quality data and embracing open and collaborative strategies to develop a strong domestic ecosystem. For young people, he advised using AI as a supportive tool, nurturing creativity and professional ethics, and actively learning to become technology creators rather than just users.
If these steps are taken, he believes Vietnam could become a regional AI bright spot in the coming years. “The government should set the direction, and businesses should follow, investing resources to grow,” he said. “Public-private cooperation is essential.”
AI opportunities in Vietnam
According to Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Bui The Duy, Vietnam issued its first AI Strategy in 2021, committing to develop AI under an open philosophy: open standards, open data, and open source. “Openness enables global knowledge sharing, technological mastery, Made in Vietnam innovation, and contributions back to humanity,” he explained. “‘Open’ is also a prerequisite for safety and transparency in AI applications.”
He emphasized that for AI to thrive, the domestic market must be large enough; without applications, there is no market, and Vietnamese AI companies will not mature. Therefore, the government will accelerate AI adoption across sectors and State agencies. The National Technology Innovation Fund will allocate 30-40 per cent of its resources, including “AI vouchers” for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to ensure the Vietnamese market becomes a cradle of strong AI companies.
Importantly, he stressed that AI only truly serves humanity when it is built on ethical, transparent, verifiable, and responsible foundations. This requires both technical design and legal frameworks to protect people and strengthen social trust. “Along with opportunities, AI presents ethical, employment, and trust challenges,” he said. “Therefore, Vietnam pursues AI development that is fast, safe, and humane, where AI assists humans but humans remain the final decision-makers.”
Vietnam will soon issue a National AI Ethics Code, an updated AI Strategy, and a Law on AI grounded in the core principles of risk-based governance; transparency and accountability; human-centered development; support for domestic AI growth; AI as a driver of rapid and sustainable growth; and the protection of national digital sovereignty through data, infrastructure, and technology.
Technology is global in the digital era but data is local. Critical applications must operate on Vietnamese AI infrastructure, blending global and national platforms. This is an opportunity for developing countries, as advantages lie not only in core technology but also in local context, culture, data, and national-specific challenges. “Vietnam’s AI pathway is defined by ‘and’: global and local; cooperation and autonomy; technology and application; elite and mass adoption; open data and protected data,” Deputy Minister Duy said. “AI development must rest on four pillars: institutions, infrastructure, human resources, and AI culture, interconnected and mutually reinforcing.”
At the recent Open Innovation Conference, hosted by VinUniversity, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Universities of Oxford, Duke, and Cornell, Ms. Ramla Khalidi, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Vietnam, emphasized that “Vietnam understands very clearly the urgency of this moment,” citing the country’s rapid digital transformation and ambitious national development vision, which has placed AI at the center of discussions about its future. “AI can help Vietnam move closer to its goal of becoming a high-income country,” she believes.
Google translate