Tokayev's 2026 Address Sets Digital Economy and AI Goals for Kazakhstan

In his 2026 Address to the nation, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said Kazakhstan's digital transformation must deliver concrete results, from higher production efficiency to better everyday life. He stressed that artificial intelligence should be used to solve real problems rather than merely adopted, and that specialists must be trained to realise this potential.

Tokayev said the current year is the Year of Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence and called for building an AI-based digital economy. He urged the government, national companies and the creative industries sector to take an active part. Kazakhstan has already launched two supercomputers, another will start operating by year-end, a fibre-optic line across the bottom of the Caspian Sea has been completed, and new data centres are under construction.

Sapar Toksanov, rector of Qazaq AI Research University, said the university was established as the first AI-Enabled university in Central Asia. He said AI courses are being developed at all universities under the AI-Sana programme, and that the AI+X model combines fundamental AI training with sector-specific skills.