Azerbaijan has stepped up its focus on digitalisation, cyber security and artificial intelligence as part of a broader state-led transformation agenda, senior officials said at the sixth graduation ceremony of the Azerbaijan Cybersecurity Centre on February 9, while analysts and rights researchers warn that the same technologies risk reinforcing state surveillance and political control.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister of Digital Development and Transport Samir Mammadov said Azerbaijan had achieved “significant results” in digital development through what he described as consistent and targeted socio-economic policies in recent years, APA-Economics reported.

Mammadov said digitalisation was improving the efficiency of public administration, enhancing economic competitiveness and expanding access to public services. At the same time, he acknowledged that the expansion of information systems had increased exposure to cyber threats, including risks to data confidentiality and integrity.

He said strengthening cyber security across both the public and private sectors, as well as building a national cyber security ecosystem, had become a strategic priority. According to Mammadov, this includes improving the legal framework, reinforcing institutional capacity and developing human capital.

He referred to the information security and cyber security strategy approved by presidential decree on August 28, 2023, which provides for phased implementation and long-term planning, including the training of specialised professionals. He also cited the “Digital Development Concept” approved on January 16, 2025, which defines data protection, digital literacy and the training of information and communications technology specialists as core objectives.

Addressing the same event, Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ronen Krausz said the Azerbaijan Cybersecurity Centre was not only a training institution but also a symbol of strategic vision and investment in human capital. He described the joint Azerbaijani-Israeli initiative as evidence that cyber security is increasingly viewed as a pillar of national security, economic resilience and technological development.

Krausz said the centre had already trained hundreds of specialists who had gone on to work in key positions across the public and private sectors, which he said demonstrated Azerbaijan’s focus on developing high-level human capital alongside infrastructure.

Artificial intelligence strategy and implementation gaps

Beyond cyber security, artificial intelligence has emerged as one of the government’s declared priorities. In March 2025, President Ilham Aliyev approved the “Artificial Intelligence Strategy for 2025-2028”, a 24-page document aimed at consolidating previously fragmented initiatives into a single national framework.

Pro-government analysis published by APA-Economics argues that the strategy marks a shift from isolated pilot projects towards centralised state management of AI development. The document covers regulation, infrastructure, human capital and value creation, with the stated aim of integrating AI into sectors such as banking, agriculture, transport and public administration.

Elvin Abbasov, chairman of the Azerbaijan Information and Communication Technologies Industry Association, said the strategy had replaced what he described as a chaotic development phase with a systematised approach. He linked this shift to Azerbaijan’s rise by 41 places to 70th position in the Global AI Readiness Index.

However, Abbasov said major technical constraints remained, including the absence of mature national language models, limited high-performance computing capacity and a shortage of high-quality Azerbaijani-language datasets. He described the lack of senior-level AI architects and data engineers as the sector’s most acute bottleneck, despite a reported 60-fold increase in demand for data science specialists between 2016 and 2022.

The government has sought to address these gaps through international cooperation, particularly with Israel, South Korea, European partners and the United States. In February 2025, Azerbaijan and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding on AI cooperation covering supercomputing infrastructure, civilian applications, human capital and joint research. Azerbaijani delegations have also held meetings in Silicon Valley with technology firms, research centres and venture capital funds to explore cloud computing, data infrastructure and AI deployment in the public sector.

Surveillance risks and rights concerns

Opposition-leaning analysts and civil society researchers argue that the rapid expansion of AI and digital governance in Azerbaijan cannot be separated from the country’s political context.

Researcher Samira Alakbarli told Toplum TV that the global AI race is not only about innovation and economic growth but also about values. She said that in authoritarian systems, advanced digital technologies are often repurposed for surveillance, profiling and political control rather than accountability or transparency.

She pointed to examples cited by Freedom House, which has documented the use of AI-driven tools for population monitoring in countries such as China and Russia. Similar technologies, including facial recognition, social media analysis and predictive policing, have also been reported in Turkey and Georgia during protests.

Alakbarli said cooperation with Israel, a global leader in cyber and AI technologies, should be assessed not only in technical terms but also through the lens of how such tools have been deployed. She noted that Israeli technologies have been used extensively for surveillance and targeting in the occupied Palestinian territories and during the war in Gaza, including data analytics platforms supplied by Palantir.

She also highlighted domestic developments, including the creation in November 2024 of the Centralised Information and Digital Analytics System within the State Security Service. Although its founding regulation was briefly published on the presidential website and later removed, the document indicated that the system would aggregate extensive personal data, including biometric, location, health, education and employment information.

According to Alakbarli, such centralisation of data creates the technical foundation for large-scale monitoring and behavioural analysis, particularly in the absence of independent oversight. She also referred to revelations that Azerbaijani authorities had previously used spyware developed by Israel’s NSO Group to monitor journalists and activists.

Since November 2023, more than 30 journalists and civil society figures have been arrested on charges related to foreign currency smuggling, allegations they deny, saying they are being targeted for their political and civic activities.

Legal frameworks versus practice

While Azerbaijan’s AI strategy includes commitments to ethical use, data protection and algorithmic transparency, critics argue that in authoritarian systems legal frameworks often function as instruments of formal legitimacy rather than effective safeguards.

Alakbarli said that without independent institutions, judicial oversight and genuine accountability, digitalisation risks accelerating centralisation of power rather than improving governance. She added that regional security dynamics, including tensions involving Iran and Azerbaijan’s strategic partnership with Israel, further complicate the use of advanced surveillance and intelligence-gathering technologies.

The government maintains that digital transformation, cyber security and artificial intelligence are essential tools for economic development, national security and resilience against external threats. Whether the expanding digital infrastructure delivers those outcomes without deepening political control remains an open question.