Uzbekistan to launch national AI portal and attract $1 billion in investments

On 22 October, the president signed a decree on measures to advance artificial intelligence technologies in Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Justice reported.

According to the decree, at least 100 new AI-related initiatives will be launched by the end of 2026 in public administration, the social sector, and the economy. The establishment of 15 AI laboratories at universities across the country is also planned.

By 2030, Uzbekistan aims to attract more than $1 billion in foreign investment for the creation of modern AI infrastructure.

To promote artificial intelligence, the president ordered the launch of a government AI portal (ai.gov.uz) by the end of this year. The platform will feature information about AI projects and programs, new startups, and free online training courses.

The introduction of AI technologies will be taken into account when assessing the digital transformation of government bodies and state-owned enterprises. Starting from March 2026, ministries and agencies will take part twice a year in a competition for the best AI projects.

Beginning in 2026, Uzbekistan will also hold an annual presidential competition for the best AI startups – the President AI Award. At a meeting on 21 October, the president announced that the prize fund for the event would amount to $1 million.

During the same meeting, the president set the task of creating a “Uzbek language corpus” to support the development of a national AI model and of transferring all government databases to a unified data center. According to him, foreign experts estimate Uzbekistan’s AI potential at $10 billion.