Tajikistan Encounters Challenges in Pursuing AI Aspirations

Tajikistan’s Minister of Industry and Innovation has made an ambitious prediction, stating that the Central Asian country will emerge as a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) and microchip development. This assertion seems optimistic, considering the current state of Tajikistan’s IT sector and educational infrastructure.

“The fifth industrial revolution will begin right here, in Tajikistan. We have not only natural resources, but also a strategic vision for the development of artificial intelligence,” the minister, Sherali Kabir, told journalists in Dushanbe recently, The Caspian Post reports citing foreign media.

He based the prediction on the fact that Tajikistan possesses lots of elements, rare earths and minerals needed by the IT industry. He also claimed that leading Western entities, such as Nvidia and OpenAI, have expressed interest in doing business with Tajikistan.

Kabir’s prediction seems only thinly rooted in reality, and raises questions about governmental capacity. Tajikistan has long been ranked as having one of world's most corrupt political and economic systems, and the country presently lacks an IT base. Dushanbe likewise lacks a track record for innovation.

A recent report that tracks global innovation trends, World Intellectual Property Indicators 2024, found that not a single application for a patent was filed in Tajikistan in 2023 (the last year covered by the report).

The Tajik education system also has substantial shortcomings, according to a recent World Bank brief.

"A considerable share of firms in Tajikistan identified an inadequately educated workforce as a significant constraint to meeting local and regional market demands," the bank brief stated. "The lack of skills is mainly due to outdated learning environments in universities, including curricular, staff’s skills, equipment, and technologies."

Problems are systemic, stretching from elementary school to higher education. A separate World Bank assessment shows that only 55 percent of Tajik second graders and just 41 percent of fourth graders are meeting minimum reading standards.

"Poor learning outcomes are evident starting in the early grades," the bank assessment states.