AI Policy Egypt

Egypt’s updated AI policy combines innovation with responsible governance. Learn how the 2025 AI Strategy, ethical frameworks, and new data-exchange laws are shaping a trusted AI ecosystem across the Arab and African regions.

With the launch of the National AI Strategy 2025–2030 and ongoing legislative reforms, Egypt is creating a structured path for ethical, inclusive, and innovation-driven artificial intelligence aligning national goals with international standards like UNESCO, OECD and ISO/IEC 42001.

 

Egypt’s evolving AI landscape reflects a decisive shift from vision to implementation. The country’s updated National AI Strategy 2025–2030 and accompanying legislative reforms mark the beginning of a new era, one defined by responsible innovation, digital sovereignty, and regional leadership. At the heart of this transformation is a clear policy direction: to embed artificial intelligence across all sectors of the economy while ensuring that deployment remains ethical, transparent, and human-centred. Guided by the Egyptian Charter for Responsible AI (2023) and aligned with international frameworks such as UNESCO’s AI Ethics Recommendations, the OECD AI Principles, and ISO/IEC 42001, Egypt is building a governance model that integrates global best practices with national priorities.

The strategy sets out an ambitious goal to position Egypt as a trusted regional hub for AI research, innovation, and regulation across the Arab and African regions. It builds on years of investment in digital infrastructure, public-private partnerships, and capacity-building programmes, all under the umbrella of Digital Egypt and Vision 2030. By combining innovation-driven growth with robust governance, Egypt is crafting one of the most comprehensive AI policy frameworks in the Middle East, one that balances economic opportunity with social responsibility and long-term sustainability.

 

National Context and AI Landscape

 

Artificial intelligence has become a defining pillar of Egypt’s Vision 2030 agenda, driving the country’s transformation toward a knowledge-based, digitally enabled economy. The launch of the National AI Strategy 2025–2030 marks a new phase in Egypt’s technological evolution expanding national capacity while ensuring that innovation remains inclusive, ethical, and locally relevant. Unveiled by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in January 2025, the updated strategy sets an ambitious target to raise the ICT sector’s contribution to GDP to 7.7 % by 2030, while positioning Egypt as a regional AI hub across Africa and the Middle East. The roadmap builds on progress made under the 2021 strategy, now reinforced through six strategic pillars: governance, infrastructure, technology, data, ecosystem, and talent. By 2030, the government aims to:

• Cultivate 30,000 AI specialists through advanced education and training programs.
• Establish 250 AI-driven companies supported by R&D and venture-capital incentives.
• Expand AI research output to more than 6,000 academic publications.
• Increase AI integration into daily life for 36 % of the population.

 

The National Council for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI), under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, coordinates these initiatives, supported by the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and national innovation hubs. The focus is dual: to develop AI infrastructure and data ecosystems including cloud platforms and 5G connectivity and to create governance frameworks that embed accountability and fairness across AI applications. Experts highlight that Egypt’s strength lies in its growing base of researchers, engineers, and ICT graduates, as well as institutions such as the National Research Center and the Academy of Scientific Research. Yet challenges remain: limited data access, research infrastructure gaps, and the need for alignment with evolving EU and U.S. AI regulatory frameworks. Egypt’s strategy also places emphasis on building localised AI models, especially Arabic-language foundational models to address national priorities in sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, and smart-city management. Developing home-grown datasets and domain-specific models is viewed as essential to maintaining data sovereignty and reducing reliance on foreign platforms. Overall, Egypt’s AI vision seeks to balance technological leadership with ethical governance, ensuring that innovation enhances productivity, supports human development, and strengthens the country’s digital sovereignty in an increasingly AI-driven global economy.

 

Strategic Framework and Governance

Unveiled in January 2025, Egypt’s updated strategy moves from vision to execution and is built on six pillars: Governance, Technology, Data, Infrastructure, Ecosystem, Talent. Headline goals include lifting ICT’s GDP share to 7.7% by 2030, launching 250+ AI startups, and training 30,000 AI specialists anchored by new regulatory standards and data-governance measures to ensure secure, inclusive deployment.

Policy steering sits with the National Council for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI), which coordinates implementation and inter-ministerial alignment under MCIT. NCAI works alongside ITIDA (innovation, startup support) and digital transformation units across ministries to embed AI in public services. International cooperation and standards alignment are explicit features of the governance model.

Execution is being accelerated through marquee partnerships: Capgemini’s AI Center of Excellence in Cairo to scale GenAI solutions globally and a Microsoft–MCIT MoU to train 100,000 people on AI both reinforcing talent pipelines and applied use cases across government and industry.

Egypt operationalises “trustworthy AI” via the Egyptian Charter for Responsible AI (2023) and alignment with UNESCO and OECD frameworks, complemented by management-system approaches such as ISO/IEC 42001. Governance is being deepened with a Cloud First Policy (2024) introducing targeted data-localisation for classified data and a National Open Data Policy (Aug 2025) as a bridge to a forthcoming Data Governance Law.

According to OECD trackers, Egypt’s national strategy aims to create an AI industry by developing skills, technology, ecosystem infrastructure, and governance, with follow-up mechanisms (action plans, links to future law, and periodic monitoring) that elevate coordination across public bodies.

 

Fig 2.0 Outlining the institutional structure driving national AI coordination, standards, and growth.

 

Legal and Regulatory Landscape

Egypt’s legal framework for artificial intelligence is gradually consolidating under a cohesive regulatory architecture that integrates existing laws with forthcoming AI-specific instruments. Core foundations include 1) the Personal Data Protection Law (2020), which governs privacy, consent, and data-handling obligations for AI systems processing personal information, 2) the Electronic Transactions Law (2020), ensuring the legal validity of digital signatures and electronic records, 3) and the Egyptian Charter for Responsible AI, 4) the Intellectual Property Law (amended in 2024) which strengthens protection for digital innovations, algorithms, and software outputs.

Building on this legislative base, Egypt is now drafting dedicated AI and Data Exchange Regulations that will introduce new layers of transparency, human oversight, and risk-classification requirements, particularly for high-risk AI applications moving the country toward a more comprehensive, accountable, and internationally aligned governance regime.

 

 

Future Outlook: Toward a Regional AI Hub

By 2030, Egypt envisions establishing itself as a trusted regional hub for artificial intelligence across the Arab and African regions anchored in ethical governance, technical excellence, and inclusive growth. The government plans to introduce national AI certification and conformity-assessment schemes to standardize trust, safety, and compliance across sectors. In parallel, Egypt is advancing the development of Arabic-language foundation models to enhance linguistic inclusivity and regional digital sovereignty. Expanding AI innovation zones and regulatory sandboxes will further accelerate research, testing, and private-sector collaboration under controlled, transparent conditions.

These initiatives are complemented by Egypt’s active integration with African Union and UNESCO AI frameworks, ensuring alignment with global norms while reflecting regional priorities. Central to this vision is a commitment to inclusive AI deployment reducing digital inequalities, empowering local talent, and ensuring that the benefits of AI-driven transformation are accessible to all segments of society.

 

Implications for Organizations

To navigate Egypt’s evolving AI regulatory landscape effectively, organisations should take the following practical steps:

1. Monitor legislative updates: Keep track of the upcoming AI and Data Exchange Regulations, as well as executive decisions under the Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL). These will define new obligations around transparency, data governance, and system classification.

2. Conduct voluntary AI risk assessments: Evaluate the ethical, technical, and legal risks associated with your AI systems, especially those considered high-risk. Maintain documentation of risk-mitigation measures and governance controls to demonstrate accountability and readiness for future audits.

3. Align internal policies with the Egyptian Charter for Responsible AI: Review your organisation’s AI development and deployment policies to ensure they reflect the Charter’s key principles—transparency, fairness, accountability, and human oversight.

4. Engage with national authorities: Collaborate with the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT). These bodies oversee AI sandboxes, training programmes, and upcoming certification schemes that can support compliance and innovation.

5. Build local partnerships for compliance: Partner with Egyptian technology firms, universities, or research institutions to strengthen data localisation, cybersecurity, and sector-specific compliance. Local collaboration not only eases regulatory navigation but also enhances trust and access to domestic markets.

By following these steps, businesses can position themselves ahead of regulatory developments and operate responsibly within Egypt’s growing AI ecosystem.

 

Conclusion

Egypt’s AI policy in 2025 reflects a mature, forward-looking vision prioritising responsible innovation over regulation for its own sake. The country is now shifting from strategic design to execution: building AI systems that are ethical, inclusive and globally trusted. For companies engaging with Egypt’s growing AI ecosystem, the imperative is to clearly embed responsible-AI governance early to align with national and international expectations.

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