ASTANA — The question of AI is especially relevant for Kazakhstan, which is betting big on the technology and preparing for the transformation ahead. AI is already reshaping economic models, changing the nature of work and creating new forms of competition between countries.
It is also forcing governments to ask a bigger question: what kind of country do they want to become in an AI-driven world? “AI is not just another tool set. AI is statecraft,” Professor Olaf Groth, AI strategist and member of Kazakhstan’s AI Development Council, said in a video interview with The Astana Times.
For Groth, the question is no longer whether governments should prepare for the AI transformation, but how they should build the foundations of an economy and a state that will remain competitive as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in public services, business and everyday life.
Professor Olaf Groth. Photo credit: Olaf Groth’s personal archive Groth opened the interview with a high-stakes argument that AI should no longer be treated as another technology governments can adopt when it matures, because decisions about computing power, data, governance and AI infrastructure are increasingly decisions about a country’s long-term economic and strategic position.
“AI is not just another toolset. AI is statecraft. A government needs to set the right decisions early on, this means putting the right governance structures in place so that we can both check and control and manage tool performance, meaning returns on investment, but also ethical conduct and responsibility of the models that we’re deploying, the quality of the data, and the decisions that come out of it all,” he said.
For Groth, one of the clearest ways for governments to show they are serious about the technology is through their own use of AI, including procuring AI services and developing AI-led public services. “Kazakhstan has been doing quite well on that front already, it having been recognized by the United Nations for digital government, and it needs to continue on that path because that’s where credibility comes from,” he said.
The conversation then turned to Kazakhstan’s position in the emerging geopolitical landscape of technology, where Groth sees an opportunity for the country to move beyond simply adopting technologies developed elsewhere. According to him, Kazakhstan’s progress in digital development and AI, combined with its geography, natural resources, agriculture and transit routes, puts it in a strong position to become “the orchestrator and the unifier of the region.” “If it does that, then, you know, you are now accumulating a lot more economic and political weight in the world, right?
And I think Kazakhstan is uniquely positioned to do that. And I think we’re seeing some deals already with countries that are neighboring countries,” he said. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev chairs the first meeting of Kazakhstan’s Council for the Development of Artificial Intelligence on Oct.
1, 2025, attended by international experts and officials from the UAE, United States, China and other countries. Photo credit: Akorda Groth said he sees particular potential in creating a Central Asian data accord that could lay the foundation for an integrated regional data economy, allowing countries to exchange data while maintaining privacy, national agency and national security safeguards.