A New Era in Turkey's Artificial Intelligence Strategy and the Rise of "GovTech"
The decisions published in the Official Gazette today mark a milestone in Turkey's digital transformation. As an entrepreneur developing artificial intelligence solutions for analyzing and improving legislative, executive, and judicial processes, today's updates came directly to my attention thanks to the Regulatory Compliance Assistant I developed.
I wanted to summarize these critical changes made to the state's organizational structure and incentive system for my colleagues and connections in the sector:
1. The Era of "National Technology and Artificial Intelligence General Directorate"
The structure of the National Technology General Directorate within the Ministry of Industry and Technology has been updated to "National Technology and Artificial Intelligence General Directorate." Among the new responsibilities, the following stand out:
- Development of artificial intelligence technologies in accordance with reliable and ethical principles,
- Establishment of national policies and strategies in the field of artificial intelligence,
- Determination of standards for data center and cloud computing infrastructure.
2. "Public Artificial Intelligence" Under the Cyber Security Presidency
The "Public Artificial Intelligence General Directorate" has been established within the Cyber Security Presidency. This unit will be responsible for data governance in the public sector, common data space infrastructure, and AI usage strategies in government. In other words, the state is creating the necessary institutional architecture to process its own data with artificial intelligence, prioritizing cyber security legislation, and aiming to support new strategies with action plans.
In this structure, I believe the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (2021-2025) and lessons learned from e-government and e-nabız processes have been influential; cyber security and data governance are now seen as an inseparable whole. Google's "hyperscale data center" to be established in Turkey will undoubtedly support many processes with the know-how it brings.
3. Good News: 100% Remote Work Incentive for IT Professionals
The withholding tax incentive for off-site work (remote work) for IT personnel in technoparks and R&D centers has been increased to 100% until December 31, 2026. This means that even if IT personnel work completely remotely, employers will be able to benefit from the relevant incentive at full rate.
The SaaS solutions I've developed both within the Arayüz Campaign and individually, which analyze Grand National Assembly of Turkey sessions, legislative proposals, regulations, and Constitutional Court processes, are actually pioneering field applications of the "Artificial Intelligence in Government" vision that is being institutionalized today.
For example, the Regulatory Compliance Assistant I'm currently developing was designed to instantly analyze critical changes like today's and manage compliance processes. Using the data provided by my own product while analyzing this news today was a special pleasure for me.