During the fourth session of the National Council for Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Minister of Communications and Information Technology and Chairman of the Council Amr Talaat has announced the launch of a national official AI platform under the aegis of the Council.

The platform comprises the National AI Strategy; the events, news and details of AI projects in Egypt; the capacity building programs provided by various institutions; and Egypt’s achievements in the AI field. The Platform provides an opportunity for exchanging views and experiences among stakeholders; the government, public and private sectors; academia; and startups, on AI issues, especially those related to the opportunities enabled by such technology and the principles and ethics of its use.

The launch of the platform (ai.gov.eg) comes in Egypt's keenness to embrace the technologies of the digital era, adopt its major technologies, and enhance the country’s standing as a regional and global leader in AI.

The ICT Minister stressed that the launch of a national AI platform helps achieve a breakthrough in this field, and allows those working and interested in AI to save time and effort in reaching their goals. This reinforces the national efforts in leveraging such technology to bring about digital transformation and build Digital Egypt, he added.

Talaat pointed out the platform’s importance in augmenting Egypt’s leading role as a key player in AI on the international level. He referred to the Egyptian government’s efforts to attain the National AI Strategy, which aims to establish an AI industry in Egypt.

For her part, the Advisor to the ICT Minister for AI Golestan Radwan stated that the National AI Strategy has been published in both Arabic and English, on the platform. It also comprises information on the ongoing projects and the capacity building and qualification programs organized by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) in collaboration with various agencies, starting with awareness programs on AI, programs for university students and graduates and professionals in technical and non-technical jobs, all the way to executives in the private and public sectors.

The platform also involves a section for AI partnerships, including those established with government agencies, international organizations, the private sector or academia, with the aim of facilitating and accelerating communication. The platform also has a section for promoting innovation and cooperation with startups, building bridges between academia and industry, and encouraging AI research to serve Egypt’s development goals. Moreover, the platform contains information on AI governance in Egypt, with the content updated on regular basis to feature new activities and events.

Over the past few years, Egypt made great strides in AI. The country’s ranking on the Government AI Readiness Index 2020, issued by Oxford Insights and the International Research Development Centre (IDRC), moved up 55 spots to rank 56th out of 172 countries, up from 111th out of 194 countries in 2019. This milestone was reached thanks to the efforts of implementing the National AI Strategy.

Furthermore, MCIT signed a number of agreements with specialized international companies to carry out projects aimed at using AI applications in different state sectors to develop innovative solutions to the challenges facing the Egyptian society, with working in parallel to establish international partnerships to carry out a range of capacity building programs in AI.

In an effort to enhance its international standing in the field of AI, Egypt was the first Arab and African country to adopt and translate the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Principles on AI into Arabic; let alone the country’s major role in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) meetings for drafting a recommendation on the ethics of AI.

Moreover, Egypt chaired both the Arab AI Working Group meeting, held in February 2021, under the aegis of the League of Arab States (LAS), and the African Working Group on AI meeting, held under the aegis of the African Union (AU).

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