Amr Talaat, Egypt's Minister of Communications and Information Technology and Chairperson of the National Council for Artificial Intelligence (AI), has announced the launch of a special AI platform in the country. The platform falls under the umbrella of the National Council for Artificial Intelligence, and will serve as Egypt's official portal in the field of AI. It includes the national strategy for AI, and all events, news, and details of projects in this field present in Egypt. Also present on the platform are capacity-building programmes provided by various authorities, as well as Egypt's achievements in this field. The launch of the ai.gov.eg platform comes as part of Egypt's keenness to keep pace with the digital age, and interact with the most important technologies of this era. It also aims to consolidate Egypt's position to become one of the pioneers in the field of AI regionally and globally. Talaat said that the digital platform's launch guarantees the achievement of a major qualitative leap in this field, and also saves workers and those interested in AI time and effort to reach their goals. This additionally aims to support the state's efforts to benefit from this technology, and to achieve digital transformation whilst building Egypt. The minister pointed to the importance of this platform to promote Egypt's leading role as an international actor in the AI field. He also referred to the Egyptian Government's efforts to implement the national strategy for AI that aims to create an industry in the country. Golstan Radwan, Advisor to the Minister of Communications and Information Technology for Artificial Intelligence, said that the document on Egypt's national AI strategy has been published in both Arabic and English on the platform. The platform includes all information about existing projects; human capacity building programmes, and the preparation of employees provided by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in cooperation with various agencies. This starts with programmes for spreading public awareness on AI, whilst preparing special programmes for university students and graduates, and professionals, up to leaders in the private and public sectors. The platform also includes a section for partnerships in the AI field, whether with government agencies, international organisations, the private sector, or academia. This is with the aim of facilitating and accelerating the process of communication, and another section for innovation and cooperation with startups. At the same time, the platform aims to build bridges between academia and industry, and encourage research in AI. Over the past few years, Egypt has succeeded in achieving great progress in the field of AI. The "Government Readiness for Artificial Intelligence" index, issued in 2020 by the Oxford Insight Foundation and the International Development Research Center, indicated that Egypt's ranking in the general index advanced 55 places to 56 globally of 172 countries, compared to 111 among 194 countries in 2019. In terms of enhancing its international position in AI, Egypt has joined the recommendation on AI in the Organization of Economic Cooperation (OECD), as the first Arab and African country to join the recommendation. Egypt has also played a major role in the ongoing discussions within UNESCO to adopt a recommendation on the ethics of artificial intelligence. In addition, the country has participated in a Arab Working Group on Artificial Intelligence meeting, held last February under the umbrella of the Arab League. At the African level, Egypt participated in the African Working Group on Artificial Intelligence meeting, under the umbrella of the African Union, and was elected as the head of the Arab and African teams.
