The National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Council has convened its first meeting, chaired by the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), in Smart Village.

The meeting discussed the Council’s objectives, mandates and structure, as well as the proposal to form an executive bureau. This is in addition to discussing the structure and mandate of the technical committee that studies and unifies AI current activities by all concerned parties, to compile them in a strategy that takes into account what has been achieved so far. This is to be presented to the Council in its next meeting, then adopted internally and externally.

The meeting also discussed the projects, agreements and conferences proposed by the Council members, looking into them and submitting technical propositions, to enrich the AI scene in Egypt, in line with the objectives of the national strategy for AI.

This is in addition to studying other countries’ experiences and choosing the appropriate ones to present to the council, as well as proposing activities and events to support AI startups and scientific research in this filed, and submitting proposals and recommendations to the executive bureau to present to the Council.

Moreover, the meeting delved into the pillars of the national strategy for AI, including building capacities and creating applications to overcome the challenges facing the Egyptian society. The strategy aims to further Egypt’s global leadership through its leading of regional conglomerates and playing an effective role in international events.

The Prime Minister’s directive on developing a strategy for the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies were also discussed.

Furthermore, the meeting discussed implementing the mechanisms of the national strategy for AI, through qualifying generations of specialists in this filed and raising awareness of the importance of AI in all state institutions. This is in addition to raising efficiency of employees at different ministries, through carrying out training programs, in collaboration with specialized international companies.

The meeting also discussed cooperating with regional and international organizations in adopting AI technologies, as well as relevant issues, such as ethics and data security. This comes as Egypt chairs two working groups at the African Union (AU) and the League or Arab States (LAS) to develop unified strategies that can pave the way for collaboration in AI applications, as well as unifying Arab and African positions at international organizations.

In December, Egypt hosted the first session of the AU Working Group on AI.

The National AI Council was created as per the Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly’s decree, issued last November, targeting governing the national strategy for AI through coordination between involved parties to come out with a unified strategy that reflects the government’s priorities and those of involved parties, using AI applications. The council also supervises implementing, following up and updating such strategy, in line with the global developments.

The decree provided that the National AI Council report to the Council of Ministers and be chaired by the ICT Minister. Members of the Council include representatives of the Ministries of Defense, Foreign Affairs, Planning and Economic Development, Interior, Higher Education and Scientific Research; the involved parties and three experts selected by the Council chair.