Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, speaking at a meeting of the Artificial Intelligence Development Council in Almaty on May 4, openly acknowledged serious economic challenges facing the nation. He endorsed the view of economists that Kazakhstan has fallen into the classic 'middle-income trap'.

'Traditional sources of growth, such as resources and cheap labor, are nearly exhausted, while new ones have not yet been fully formed or launched,' Tokayev said. He stressed the need to transition to a digital economy and develop large-scale platform solutions to prevent economic stagnation.

The president emphasized that without a unified state data system, artificial intelligence would remain ineffective. 'It is necessary to transform public services into an invisible but highly efficient operating system that eliminates excessive bureaucratic requirements. In the traditional system, the path from receiving a request to making a decision takes several days or even weeks; ideally, this cycle should be reduced to a few seconds,' he added.

Tokayev also cited data from global laboratories showing a rapidly widening gap between developed and developing economies. 'Artificial intelligence is leading to the concentration of capital and technology in the hands of global leaders, creating an insurmountable 'technological divide' without timely and strict regulatory intervention. This is a signal for Kazakhstan,' he said.

Source: www.gazeta.uz