Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced a new artificial intelligence plan that calls for $10 billion in infrastructure investment, government purchases of domestic systems and training for 5 million people, even as an international assessment says commitments under Turkey’s previous AI strategy remain unfulfilled.
Erdoğan presented the 2026 to 2030 Artificial Intelligence Action Plan at a summit in İstanbul on Saturday, saying it would put Turkey among the leading countries in the field.
The announcement came after the 2021 to 2025 National Artificial Intelligence Strategy expired without Erdoğan presenting a final account of whether its main targets had been reached.
Oxford Insights ranked Turkey 53rd among 195 countries in its 2025 Government AI Readiness Index, with a score of 58.91 out of 100.
The research organization said Turkey retained second place in South and Central Asia and had strong digital and innovation foundations but added that national strategy commitments made several years earlier remained unfulfilled.
Turkey’s previous strategy had set a target of placing the country among the top 20 in international AI indexes by the end of 2025.
It also aimed to raise artificial intelligence’s contribution to gross domestic product to 5 percent, increase employment in the sector to 50,000 people and employ 1,000 AI specialists in central and local government institutions.
Other targets included producing 10,000 graduate degree in AI holders, increasing the number of AI startups to 1,000 and ensuring that AI research accounted for at least 15 percent of total research and development spending.
Erdoğan’s speech did not state whether Turkey had met the employment, education, startup or economic targets.
Turkey also failed to reach the top 20 in the Oxford Insights index, finishing 33 places below the previous strategy’s goal.
The new plan is organized under four headings covering public awareness, the use of AI, domestic production and governance.
Erdoğan said the government would establish AI literacy workshops in all 81 provinces and train 5 million people within two years.
The plan also calls for training 10,000 advanced AI specialists and 100,000 professionals capable of applying AI systems in their fields.
The government plans to release at least 2,000 public datasets through a National Data Library.
Erdoğan said the datasets would cover health, agriculture, defense and electronic commerce, but did not identify which records would be released, who would receive access or how personal and sensitive information would be removed.
He said the government would introduce a regulatory system based on the level of risk posed by each application, with rules intended to protect privacy and security while giving investors greater certainty.
At least five sectors will receive regulatory testing environments in which companies and public institutions can test AI products under government supervision.
The plan requires the government to reserve at least 2 percent of public investment programs for AI projects.
Erdoğan also said public institutions would become the first buyers of successful domestic AI products, giving Turkish companies government contracts and a reference for sales to other customers.
The government will offer AI vouchers to small and medium-sized businesses working in health, energy and advanced manufacturing to help them turn tested ideas into commercial products.
Turkey plans to raise its installed data center capacity to at least one gigawatt by 2030 and introduce rules governing data center standards and energy efficiency.
Erdoğan said the government would seek to mobilize at least $10 billion, funded mainly by the private sector, for data centers, cloud services and AI infrastructure.
Foreign investors will be offered a single application process that is intended to provide an investment roadmap within 30 business days.
The plan also calls for designated AI development zones with energy and technical infrastructure, along with a National Artificial Intelligence Research Fund and an Artificial Intelligence Growth Fund.
Erdoğan said Turkey would continue developing large Turkish-language models, including Bilge, a project of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.
He also referred to models under development by the T3 Foundation and drone manufacturer Baykar, as well as a 9-billion-parameter model operated by defense technology company HAVELSAN.
Turkey will also work with the Organization of Turkic States to develop a shared large language model covering the Oghuz, Kipchak and Karluk branches of the Turkic language family, Erdoğan said.
The government plans to use its electronic government portal to provide AI-supported public services directly to citizens.
A National Artificial Intelligence Board will oversee the new plan, while the Industry and Technology Ministry will monitor the work of government agencies, universities, research centers and private companies.