Egypt’s national AI strategy – Second edition 2025-2030

The National Artificial Intelligence Strategy of Egypt (Second Edition, 2025–2030) outlines the country’s renewed vision to position AI as a key driver for sustainable development, economic transformation, and regional leadership. Developed by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) in collaboration with national and international partners, this second edition builds upon the foundations laid in the first strategy (2021) and reflects evolving priorities, global trends, and local capacities.

Strategic pillars and guiding principles

The strategy is organised around four main pillars:

1. Governance and ecosystem enablement: Establishes legal, institutional, and regulatory structures to guide AI deployment. A central aim is to strengthen national coordination through an AI governance framework, including policies for data access, standards, safety, and ethical use. A national AI observatory is proposed for monitoring progress and impact.
2. Scientific research and talent development: Focuses on fostering a robust research environment, expanding academic programs, and addressing the AI skills gap. This includes investing in specialised AI centres, updating curricula, encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration, and supporting researchers through grants and fellowships.
3. Economic development and industry adoption: Encourages AI integration across strategic sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics. The strategy promotes private sector involvement, SME participation, and start-up acceleration by enhancing access to data, computing resources, and funding.
4. International cooperation and soft power: Prioritises Egypt’s active role in global AI governance, especially within the African Union, Arab League, and the UN system. The strategy seeks to strengthen Egypt’s presence in multilateral forums and to promote cross-border AI research and knowledge exchange.

Guiding principles emphasise human-centric and inclusive AI, data protection, environmental sustainability, and context-sensitive policy adaptation. The strategy aims to align with Egypt Vision 2030, the UN sustainable development goals, and African Union frameworks.

Implementation mechanisms

The strategy introduces operational tools such as:

• National AI Council (proposed): A high-level intergovernmental body to guide implementation and inter-ministerial coordination.
• AI sandbox and testbeds: Regulatory and experimental environments for safe deployment and testing of AI technologies.
• AI readiness assessment framework: To monitor institutional maturity and guide capacity development at organisational levels.
• Sectoral flagship projects: Large-scale initiatives in sectors like smart irrigation, traffic management, medical imaging, and Arabic language processing, designed to demonstrate AI’s practical value.

Capacity building and data infrastructure

The strategy outlines steps to:

• Increase the number of AI professionals by expanding postgraduate programs and vocational training.
• Foster interdisciplinary AI knowledge (e.g. in law, linguistics, and biology).
• Build national compute and data infrastructure, including access to GPUs, data centers, and shared open datasets in priority sectors.
• Strengthen Egypt’s position in AI language technologies, particularly in Arabic and African languages.

Ethical and regulatory considerations

Ethics are treated as cross-cutting, with a focus on ensuring transparency, accountability, and trust in AI systems. The strategy advocates for:

• Risk-based regulatory approaches;
• National AI ethics guidelines;
• Participatory policymaking involving academia, civil society, and the private sector.

It also promotes AI in service of public good, such as combating climate change, supporting persons with disabilities, and improving government services.

Monitoring and evaluation

To track progress, the strategy sets up KPIs and milestones across short-, medium-, and long-term timeframes. These include targets for AI talent output, research publications, adoption rates in priority sectors, and Egypt’s positioning in global AI indices.