The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has delivered a keynote speech at the “AI and Digital Transformation: Leveraging Data for Next-Gen Business Success” event organized by Teradata, a leading company in data analysis and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The event was attended by the Executive President of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) Mohamed Shamroukh, along with several officials from Teradata, including the Country Manager Khalid Hammouda, the Senior Vice President of Global Growth Markets Praveen Thakur, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Analytics and Architecture Martin Willcox, and Vice President for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) Attif Khattari.
In his speech, the ICT Minister emphasized that the second edition of the National AI Strategy will be launched at the beginning of next year. He pointed out that the strategy aims to harness AI technologies to create innovative solutions for societal challenges across various sectors. Additionally, it emphasizes expanding training programs to prepare specialists and ensuring the ongoing provision of computational infrastructure for relevant government entities, private businesses, startups, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the ICT Minister underscored. He emphasized the importance of data governance, aiming to balance data accessibility with personal privacy protection to maximize the benefits of AI technologies while mitigating associated risks.
Talaat highlighted that the significance of AI technologies has transcended the realm of IT specialists, grabbing the attention of various sectors worldwide. While AI is not a new discipline, the recent advancements in computational power have transformed its algorithms from theoretical concepts into tangible innovations across multiple domains, he noted.
Talaat underlined the growing global focus on addressing AI-related issues, driven by the rapid proliferation, transformative potential, and challenges of such technologies, such as data neutrality in AI systems as well as the impact of widespread AI adoption on jobs and labor markets. Talaat also stressed the need to develop training programs that meet the evolving market demands.
Furthermore, the ICT Minister explained that the rapid advancement of AI technologies is propelled by swift improvements in computing and exponential data growth, which is essential for AI. He referred to the 50 million user mark, which indicates how long it takes for a technology to reach 50 million users. While it took the television 50 years, the personal computer 14 years, and a popular video game 19 days to hit 50 million users, generative AI applications reached 100 million users within just one week, the ICT Minister added.
Talaat also outlined Egypt’s efforts to promote the use of AI, explaining that the National Council for AI (NCAI) was established in 2019 to prepare the National AI Strategy. The strategy focuses on raising societal awareness about AI capabilities, qualifying more specialized professionals, and leveraging these technologies to address societal challenges.
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) established the Applied Innovation Center (AIC) to focus on applied research and development (R&D), Talaat highlighted. The Center has implemented projects to develop AI-powered systems and create applications across several sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, and water resource management.
Talaat also mentioned that MCIT cooperates with the Ministry of Higher Education to establish numerous AI faculties and develop academic programs across different universities. He emphasized that these efforts have contributed to improving Egypt’s ranking by 50 spots on the Government AI Readiness Index over the past five years.
For his part, Hammouda emphasized the growing and gradual reliance on AI. He emphasized the critical importance of data quality, an area where Teradata delivers significant value.
In addition, Thakur commended the company’s operations in Egypt, which began in 2007. He looked forward to expanding its footprint in the country due to the availability of a skilled talent pool in AI and data analytics, especially since the company has advanced AI program development.
