A Comparative Analysis of Turkey and the US National Artificial Intelligence Strategies in the Context of Strategic Priorities

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI), whose foundations date back to the 1950s, has attracted intense interest, particularly since 2000, and significant financial investments have been made in this field. Developments in AI are profoundly affecting all sectors, turning this field into a center of competition and power between states. It is not surprising that governments are considering how to address AI's current and future developments, applications, opportunities, micro and macro impacts, and the technical, social, political, and economic issues that will arise with its widespread adoption in society. A national AI strategy represents a country's thoughts, expectations, and goals regarding AI. The national AI strategy document is the decision text that guides the responsible and effective adoption, development, and use of AI. The fact that each country's perspective on the concept of AI and its strategy differs makes the published strategy documents distinct and country specific. The aim of this study is to provide a general assessment of Turkey's strategic priorities regarding AI. A review of the Turkish literature reveals that no study has examined national AI strategies. The study comparatively analyzes the national AI strategies of Turkey and the US in the context of strategic priorities. In this regard, the US's "National Artificial Intelligence R&D Strategic Plan" (2023) and Turkey's "National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2021–2025" documents were used as a basis. The analysis examines the strategic priorities of both countries in terms of investment, human-AI collaboration, ethical-legal-social impacts, security, data management, and international collaborations. The findings show that the US strategy focuses more on advanced R&D, standard development, and international coordination, while Turkey's strategy focuses on ecosystem building, competency development, and national capacity building. From this perspective, it can be said that Turkey has a strategy in the formative stage, while the US has a strategy in the maturity stage.