Turkey enacts 2026-2030 AI action plan

On Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signed a circular enacting Turkey's 2026-2030 National Artificial Intelligence Action Plan, published in the Official Gazette. Coordinated by the Turkey — Ministry of Industry and Technology, the plan aims to position Turkey as a global AI hub by 2030 through technological sovereignty and digital transformation. The framework is built around four stages: notice, utilize, produce, and manage. Key targets include providing AI literacy training to five million citizens within two years, training 10,000 high-level experts and 100,000 application professionals, preparing at least 2,000 public datasets, and establishing a legal and ethical framework. Infrastructure goals include increasing data center computing power to one gigawatt by 2030, allocating 20 million GPU-hours to researchers and startups, mandating public institutions to dedicate at least 2% of investment budgets to AI projects, and establishing AI growth zones and dedicated research and growth funds. The plan also targets attracting at least $10 billion in private sector-led AI and data center investments, and aims for active participation in international platforms such as the OECD, G20, and United Nations. Regional efforts include developing a common large language model for Turkic languages and operating regulatory sandboxes in at least five priority sectors. Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacir emphasized that Turkey will be a pioneer rather than a spectator in the global AI transformation.