Kazakhstan starts training 1st cohort of AI officers for public sector
Training for the AI Governance 500 strategic program was launched on Monday at the Academy of Public Administration under the President of Kazakhstan, Qazinform News Agency reports, citing the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development.
According to the Ministry, the initiative is designed to prepare leaders for scaling AI within the public sector.
The Agency for Civil Service Affairs and the Ministry of AI and Digital Development are jointly delivering the program, as instructed by the Head of the President's Executive Office.
The first cohort, consisting of 100 senior officials, was inaugurated by Deputy Prime Minister — Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development Zhaslan Madiyev, Presidential Aide Kuanyshbek Yessekeyev, Chairman of the Agency for Civil Service Affairs Darkhan Zhazykbay, and Chief of the Secretariat of the Head of the President's Executive Office Kanysh Tuleushin.
The AI Governance 500 program aims to create a sustainable talent pool of AI officers — digital leaders capable of initiating and overseeing interdepartmental digital projects, ensuring their architectural coherence, and achieving the strategic goals of the state agenda under the Digital Kazakhstan concept.
Participants in the training include heads of structural units of the President's Executive Office and the Prime Minister’s Office, sectoral deputy ministers, deputy akims (governors) of regions, and heads of staff from central government bodies and local executive authorities. The program is structured with an end-to-end logic: from building a strategic understanding of AI's role and digital state architecture to developing applied digital transformation projects and AI initiatives ready for deployment across government agencies and regions.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed an executive order declaring 2026 as the Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence.