The Presidential Circular on the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (2021-2025) was published in the Official Gazette.
The document, prepared by the Presidency of the Presidency Digital Transformation Office and the Ministry of Industry and Technology in line with the 11th Development Plan and the Presidential Annual Program for 2021, is a roadmap for the work that Turkey will carry out in the field of artificial intelligence until 2025.
The priorities of the strategy and the objectives and measures within this scope were determined within the framework of the “Digital Turkey” and “National Technology Move” visions.
Digital Turkey aims for a globally competitive Turkey with the increase in productivity it provides by using digital technology, products and services in its social, economic and public activities, and the value it generates from data.
Aiming to develop the human and infrastructure capacity of Turkey to produce high-tech products nationally and authentically, the National Technology Move aims to strengthen economic and technological independence, and to implement policies and practices that will lead to breakthroughs in critical technologies.
President Erdogan wrote the foreword
According to the statement made by the Ministry of Industry and Technology, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wrote the foreword of the strategy. Stating that systems based on artificial intelligence have a radical transformative effect on production processes, occupations, daily life and institutional structures, Erdoğan noted that this brings humanity to the brink of a new era.
“Artificial intelligence technologies, whose application area is increasing, are expected to have a greater impact on the global economic structure than the internet revolution,” Erdoğan said. Using the expressions of the founder of cybernetics, Al-Jazari and Ordinaryus Prof., who took the first step towards artificial intelligence in Turkey. He referred to Cahit Arf.
“We believe that the time has come for our country to make a new breakthrough in the field of artificial intelligence.” Making his assessment, Erdogan continued as follows:
“We have the opportunity to add value to humanity as a whole by making a new techno-economic breakthrough blended with our deep-rooted civilization experience by designing artificial intelligence systems with an understanding that includes the development and operation of artificial intelligence systems in accordance with our common values.”
6 priorities, 24 goals, 119 measures
The National Artificial Intelligence Strategy was designed around 6 strategic priorities. The priorities are “training artificial intelligence specialists and increasing employment in the field”, “supporting research, entrepreneurship and innovation”, “access to quality data and technical infrastructure”, “making arrangements to accelerate socio-economic adaptation”, “strengthening international cooperation” and “structural and business to accelerate the power transformation”.
The strategy also includes 24 objectives and 119 measures in the context of these priorities. Some of the 2025 targets set in the strategy are as follows:
“The contribution to GDP will be increased to 5 percent. Employment will be increased to at least 50 thousand people. Employment in the field of artificial intelligence in central and local government public institutions and organizations will be at least 1000 people. The number of graduates will reach at least 10 thousand people. “The applications developed will be prioritized in public procurement and commercialization will be supported. International organizations will actively contribute to the regulatory work and standardization processes in the field of cross-border data sharing with reliable and responsible artificial intelligence. Turkey will be among the first 20 countries in the rankings in the international artificial intelligence indices.”
The vice president will preside
A “National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Steering Committee” will be established in order to monitor the strategy and manage the processes. The President of the Presidency Digital Transformation Office and the Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology will attend the meetings of the Board, which will be chaired by the Vice President.
According to the agenda of the meeting, the deputy ministers of the relevant ministries, the President of YÖK and other representatives will be invited to the meeting. In order to make recommendations to the Board, an “Artificial Intelligence Ecosystem Advisory Group” will be formed, in which representatives of the private sector, academia and non-governmental organizations will participate.
Market size will double
According to the Strategy Document, it is expected that the market size will exceed 2 times in 5 years in global artificial intelligence expenditures, which amount to approximately 50 billion dollars. According to many studies, artificial intelligence will contribute 13-15.7 trillion dollars to the global economy by 2030 and will provide 13-14 percent growth.
In 2025, there will be 19 terabytes of data per person on the world average. It is predicted that the data to be produced in the next 3 years will be more than the data produced in the last 30 years. While the number of artificial intelligence-focused enterprises in the USA and China reaches 2,000, this number is around 200 in Turkey. About half of the artificial intelligence initiatives in Turkey are located in technoparks, while 73 percent are located in Istanbul.
The first step towards artificial intelligence in Turkey was Ordinaryus Prof. Dismissed by Cahit Arf. Cahit Arf, “Can Machines Think and How Can They Think?” at Erzurum Atatürk University in 1959. made a presentation on The work carried out in the preparation of the strategy, Cahit Arf says, “The way our passion for knowledge finds a way depends on the spread of trust in common sense.” It was started by taking inspiration from the sentence.
The Strategy Document was prepared with the work done with 40 public institutions, 26 academicians, 38 private sector organizations, 4 non-governmental organizations, 2 professional organizations and 4 international organizations. Global trends shaped by the paradigm shift that emerged with artificial intelligence in economic and social life were analyzed. The draft text, which was opened to the view of stakeholders in April, later took its final form.
Artificial intelligence studies
Efforts continue to make public institutions in Turkey ready for new generation technologies and to have effective decision-making processes based on data. In this context, “Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Applications Department” was established within the Presidency’s Digital Transformation Office and “National Technology General Directorate” was established in the Ministry of Industry and Technology.
TÜBİTAK Artificial Intelligence Institute was established to be a catalyst for the production of artificial intelligence technology solutions by bringing together the research centers of universities and sectors.
In this process, national artificial intelligence projects started to be implemented by the ministries. Within this framework, the ministries of Justice, Labor and Social Security, Interior, National Education, Health and Trade, Presidency of Defense Industry and Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure General Directorate of Coastal Safety attracted attention with the projects they carried out.
It will be introduced in Informatics Valley
The Artificial Intelligence Strategy is planned to be introduced to the public at a ceremony to be held in Turkey’s technology and innovation base, Informatics Valley, on August 24 at 10:00.
Artificial intelligence technologies will also be used at the introductory meeting, which will be attended by Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank and President of the Presidency Digital Transformation Office Ali Taha Koç.
Turkey’s first National Artificial Intelligence Strategy will be published on the website of the Presidential Digital Transformation Office (cbddo.gov.tr) on the same day.
