A report published by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Artificial Intelligence measures the country’s progress in shaping “a new digital reality” driven by AI development. While Kazakhstan leads in Central Asia on AI adoption, the report acknowledges that the country has a “mid-tier” standing globally.

Kazakhstan now ranks 58th out of 195 nations surveyed in the 2025 Oxford Insights Government AI Readiness Index, a 16-spot improvement over 2024’s results, according to the report. The Oxford Insights index measures governmental readiness to “design, deploy, and regulate AI.” Kazakhstan’s ranking is above average for emerging-market economies, and compares favourably with countries such as Russia, Turkey and Malaysia, the report notes. 

Data centre capacity is set to rapidly expand, despite a deepening water deficit. The country intends to boost the number of IT racks from 4,000 in 2025 to 20,000 by 2030, and have 10 Tier III-IV-type data centres operating within five years, according to the report. The government also aims to “achieve 100 percent high-speed internet coverage by 2027,” the report adds.

The report identifies several problem areas impeding the “scaling [of] AI across the real economy and building societal resilience for the AI transformation,” including a comparatively low level of corporate research & development and a lack of “societal readiness” to embrace AI solutions.

Roughly 5% of current jobs in Kazakhstan would be eliminated by “successful AI execution,” the report estimates, citing a study by Google. Another 54% of the workforce in an AI-dominated business environment would “be augmented by GenAI.” Meanwhile, widespread AI use could add anywhere from half-a-percent to 2% to annual GDP growth, the report contends.

Investment in AI ventures in Kazakhstan in 2025 totalled over $75mn, marking an over five-fold increase from 2023’s total of $14mn. 

The country’s AI strategy has three pillars: creating an institutional and regulatory framework, developing digital infrastructure and implementing systematic training for all citizens in the use of new digital tools. Artificial Intelligence is envisioned as a “key instrument for economic modernization, human capital development, and strengthening the country’s international competitiveness,” AI Minister Zhaslan Madiyev writes in the report’s introduction.

This report first appeared on Eurasianet here.