The Presidential Circular dated 17.08.2026 and numbered 2026/9 (the “Circular”), published in the Official Gazette dated 18.08.2026 and numbered 33344, has put into effect the Türkiye Artificial Intelligence Action Plan (2026–2030) (the “Action Plan”), which sets out Türkiye’s roadmap for artificial intelligence policies for the 2026–2030 period. The Action Plan has also been published on the official website of the Ministry of Industry and Technology.
The Action Plan builds on the achievements of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy covering the 2021–2025 period and has been prepared in line with the principles of human-centricity, trustworthiness, ethical responsibility, digital sovereignty and sustainable development. The Action Plan contains a total of 16 priority actions under 4 main pillars: “Recognise, Utilise, Produce and Govern”.
The key objectives set out under the Circular and the Action Plan, particularly those relevant to the private sector, are summarised below.
Development of Human Resources and Skills in Artificial Intelligence Targeted
Under the “Recognise” pillar, the Action Plan aims to increase AI literacy across society and develop a qualified workforce in the field of artificial intelligence.
In this context, AI Literacy Workshops are planned to be launched across all 81 provinces, with a target of 5 million citizens participating in AI literacy programmes within 24 months. In addition, Türkiye aims to train 10,000 advanced AI specialists and 100,000 AI application professionals by the end of 2027.
In line with these objectives, developing the expertise required in the field of artificial intelligence and preparing the workforce for the use of AI technologies constitute key elements of the Action Plan.
New Mechanisms to Strengthen Data and Computing Infrastructure
The Action Plan aims to strengthen the data and computing infrastructure required for the development and deployment of AI systems.
To facilitate access by researchers, start-ups and SMEs to high-performance computing resources, the “GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) for Everyone” programme is planned to be launched. The establishment of a National Data Library and secure data spaces is also envisaged.
Datasets to be made available through the National Data Library are intended either not to contain personal data or to be anonymised. In areas involving sensitive data, the Action Plan envisages the use of secure data spaces, anonymisation, synthetic data and privacy-enhancing technologies.
Wider Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Public and Private Sectors Targeted
Under the “Utilise” pillar, the Action Plan aims to expand the use of AI applications in public services and the private sector.
In addition to developing AI applications within public institutions, sector-specific AI programmes and support mechanisms for SMEs are planned to be established.
In its current form, the Action Plan does not impose direct and generally applicable obligations on the private sector. Nevertheless, companies, SMEs and technology start-ups using or developing artificial intelligence will be among the direct addressees of the support, financing and infrastructure mechanisms envisaged under the Action Plan, as well as the regulatory mechanisms to be developed in the coming period.
Development of Domestic AI Technologies and Increased Investment Planned
Under the “Produce” pillar, the Action Plan aims to enhance Türkiye’s capacity to develop and produce AI technologies.
In this context, the development of sector-specific AI models, the strengthening of domestic production capacity in physical AI and robotics solutions, and the establishment of AI Growth Zones and Regional Centres of Excellence are planned.
The Action Plan also targets at least 1 gigawatt (GW) of installed capacity in AI and data centres by 2030 and the mobilisation of at least USD 10 billion in investment, predominantly from the private sector.
These objectives extend beyond increasing the use of AI applications and encompass the development of domestic production and investment capacity across the entire spectrum, from computing infrastructure and AI models to physical AI solutions.
Risk-Based Legal and Ethical Framework for AI Systems to Be Established
One of the key aspects of the Action Plan for the private sector is the establishment of a legal and ethical framework under which AI systems will be subject to different obligations depending on their level of risk.
In this context, the standardisation of checklists for low-risk AI applications, Algorithmic Impact Assessments for medium-risk systems, and more comprehensive For high-impact systems, the standardisation of more comprehensive Algorithmic Impact Assessments, publicly available Model Cards and detailed technical files to be submitted to the relevant regulatory authorities is planned.
The Action Plan further provides for the development of technical capacity to assess high-impact AI systems in terms of security, performance, bias, explainability and personal data protection.
This framework does not yet constitute a directly applicable regulatory obligation for companies. Rather, the Action Plan indicates the direction of the primary and secondary legislation intended to be developed in the coming period.
Regulatory Sandboxes to Be Established in Priority Sectors
The Action Plan aims to establish regulatory sandboxes to enable innovative AI applications to be developed and tested in a controlled environment in regulated sectors.
Regulatory sandboxes are planned to be introduced in at least 5 priority sectors, particularly finance, healthcare, energy, mobility and telecommunications. Mechanisms are intended to be established to allow AI solutions in these sectors to be tested for limited periods under the supervision of the relevant regulatory authorities.
The Action Plan also envisages reviewing cloud usage, data processing, outsourcing and cross-border data transfer practices in regulated sectors together with the relevant sectoral regulatory authorities and developing a risk-based approach to secure and auditable cloud usage.
Implementation of the Action Plan to Be Carried Out by Public Institutions
Under the Circular, public institutions and organisations assigned duties under the Action Plan are required to fulfil their respective responsibilities.
All public institutions and organisations have been requested to provide any support and assistance required during the implementation of the Action Plan.
The implementation of the Action Plan will be coordinated by the Ministry of Industry and Technology, while activities under the Action Plan are intended to be carried out in cooperation with public institutions and organisations, the private sector, universities and civil society organisations.
Entry into Force
The Circular dated 17.08.2026 and numbered 2026/9 was published in the Official Gazette dated 18.08.2026 and numbered 33344. The Action Plan covers the 2026–2030 period.
Assessment and Conclusion
The Türkiye Artificial Intelligence Action Plan (2026–2030) sets out the direction Türkiye intends to pursue in the coming period across a broad range of areas, extending from human resources and data and computing infrastructure to private-sector investment, domestic technology development and the legal and ethical governance of AI systems. There is no doubt that the quantitative targets set under the Action Plan in relation to human resources, computing capacity, investment and data infrastructure represent an important starting point in this respect.
However, considering the pace at which AI technologies, and particularly large language models, have developed over the past few years, we believe that Türkiye’s next step should be to move beyond strategic objectives towards an implementation programme setting out concrete use cases, responsible institutions, timelines, budgets and measurable success criteria. Global competition in artificial intelligence is no longer shaped solely by the capacity to develop models, but also by the extent and speed at which these technologies can be integrated into public services, industry, science and everyday economic activity.
In this context, we believe that one of the significant opportunities available to Türkiye is to establish a common technology and implementation framework with the European Union in the field of artificial intelligence. Considering the emerging European ecosystem in AI infrastructure, trustworthy AI, scientific research, the data economy and sector-specific applications, Türkiye could position itself not merely as a country following these developments, but as an investment, computing, data, research and implementation partner complementing Europe’s AI capacity. Türkiye’s proximity to the European market, strong industrial infrastructure and technology talent could be leveraged in this direction.
Accordingly, it is important to translate the general objective of expanding AI use in the public sector into more concrete targets, including specific institutions and use cases. Processes that could be supported by artificial intelligence may be identified in high-volume public services such as the administration of justice, tax and customs administration, trade registries, land registries, notarial services and social security, while the corresponding mechanisms for data access, human oversight, liability, supervision and review and appeal mechanisms could be designed in parallel. Such an approach would not only accelerate public services but would also create a real-world, large-scale testing and development environment for trustworthy AI applications in Türkiye.
Although the Action Plan identifies sectors with significant economic impact, including finance, healthcare, energy, mobility and telecommunications, as priority areas for implementation and regulatory sandboxes, we believe that Türkiye’s AI policy should also encompass bolder and more transformative pioneering areas. In particular, launching pioneering projects in areas such as the judiciary and academia, where institutional change in relation to artificial intelligence naturally tends to progress more cautiously, could create a significant opportunity for Türkiye. Secure AI systems that do not replace the decision-making authority of judges and prosecutors, but support case-file review, legislative and case-law research, document classification and the management of court registry workloads, as well as shared infrastructure providing researchers in academia with comparative research tools, scientific data and AI research tools, could serve as starting points for this transformation.
The same approach should be extended to notarial services, land registries and trade registry procedures, which are among the areas in which citizens and companies interact most frequently with the State. Establishing the legal and technical procedures for the use of artificial intelligence in areas such as document review, identification of deficiencies, preparation of standard transactions and preliminary review of applications could both reduce processing times and enable artificial intelligence to generate tangible value in everyday economic activity.
We believe that the central issue for Türkiye in the coming period is not to formulate a new AI vision, but to translate the existing vision into implementable projects. To this end, it would be beneficial to identify a limited number of high-impact national AI projects and determine in advance, for each project, the responsible institution, budget, data infrastructure, legal framework, implementation timeline and measurable performance criteria.
Türkiye should aim not merely to rank among the countries that use or regulate technology, but to become an AI hub that improves upon existing technologies, boldly deploys the solutions it develops within its own public institutions, creates pioneering use models in high-value areas such as science and the judiciary, and exports the solutions it develops to the wider region. We believe that the success of the next 4 years will depend less on the number of announced targets than on how many of those targets can be transformed into functioning, scalable and measurable systems.
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