Originating in 1956, Artificial Intelligence has penetrated all aspects of our daily lives. Many experts consider AI as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, having the potential to transform every realm of our lives. It won’t be wrong to quote the Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said in 2017, that “Whoever becomes the leader in AI, will rule the world.” 

With this perspective, many nations are developing their national AI strategy and have taken decisive steps in the research and development of AI. Following the league, Turkey too announced its national AI strategy to guide its AI policies till 2025. 

Officially announced in a circular, the document clearly stated President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s vision as “We believe that the time has come for our country to make a new human-oriented breakthrough in the field of artificial intelligence”. 

“Taking part in the field of artificial intelligence is not a matter of choice as it is one of the strongest pillars of our development goals in line with the 'Digital Turkey' vision and the 'National Technology Initiative'," it stated. 

"By designing artificial intelligence systems with an understanding reflecting the development and operation of artificial intelligence systems in accordance with our common values, we have the opportunity to add value to all humanity by making a new techno-economic breakthrough combined with our deep-rooted civilization experience”, the President penned in the preface. 

The strategy takes into account the global trends shaped by the paradigm shift in economic and social life that emerged due to AI, as well as the recent situation and development goals of Turkey. Envisioned to “create value on a global scale with an agile and sustainable AI ecosystem for a prosperous Turkey”, it has been designed around six strategic priorities: 

• Training Al Expert and Increasing Employment in the Domain 
• Supporting Research, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation 
• Facilitating Access to Quality Data and Technical Infrastructure 
• Regulating to Accelerate Socioeconomic Adaptation Strategic 
• Strengthening International Cooperations, and 
• Accelerating Structural and Labor Transformation 

Within the framework of these strategic priorities, 24 objectives and 119 measures have been identified. And to implement these measures, a two-layered governance mechanism has been established. The first layer will be coordinated strategically and involves high-level coordination and decision-making mechanisms. The second layer, on the other hand, will execute the technical and administrative mechanisms. 

In addition, two AI development environments will be established for public institutions and the common use of AI ecosystems. The AI strategy will also construct ‘Sectoral Co-Creation Laboratories’ to facilitate institutions defining problems, creating usage scenarios, sharing and annotating data, and meeting with domain experts and industry representatives. 

The Turkish AI strategy is expected to raise the country’s GDP by 5% and increase employment in the field of AI to 50,000 people. It also aims to actively contribute to regulatory studies and standardization processes of international organizations in the field of reliable and responsible AI and cross-border data sharing and place Turkey among the top 20 countries in international AI indices. 

India is following a similar timeline to accelerate its economic growth. According to 'Strategy for New India @ 75' document, unveiled by the Niti Aayog in 2018, "The overarching focus is to further improve the policy environment in which private investors and other stakeholders can contribute their fullest towards achieving the goals set out for New India 2022 and propel India towards a $5 trillion economy by 2030”. 

Rajiv Kumar, the vice-chairman on Niti Aayog said, "We are looking at an average of 8 per cent growth over the next five years”. “We have been bold in saying that we will look at zero-budget natural farming in a very systematic way,” he added. 

While countries like the US and China have made it obligatory for nations like Turkey and India to create an AI road map and use it in different areas, it will be interesting to witness how they implement the plans envisaged in their strategy documents.