If you're into #AIregulation, add Turkey to your watch list. 🇹🇷
#Turkey is a unique market, being at the crossroads between Asia, Europe and Middle East.
▪Geographically, it's located in the heart of Eurasia (mostly in Asia minor).
▪Politically, modern Turkey is inspired by European civil law models.
▪Culturally, Turkey has a predominantly Muslim demographic.
Given its central position, it's interesting to see which 'side' Turkey will follow on blurry policy issues like AI regulation, which has seen many diverse approaches across the East and West.
So far, Turkey is following the #EUAIAct, as announced in its Medium-Term Program 2024-26.
On 24 June, Turkey introduced the draft "Artificial Intelligence Bill No. 2/2234". Similar to the EU AI Act, this bill will broadly regulate AI systems based on risk level (e.g. prohibited systems and high-risk systems): https://lnkd.in/gRTfG_ZY
Key aspects of the bill include (based on English sources):
1️⃣ Applies to stakeholders like "providers", "distributors", "importers" and "users".
2️⃣ Mandatory principles on development of AI systems (i.e. security, transparency, fairness, accountability, and privacy).
3️⃣ High-risk classification of certain AI systems (e.g. autonomous vehicles, medical diagnostic systems, AI in law enforcement) require further precautions (e.g. a conformity assessment + registration requirements).
4️⃣ Penalties for breach - e.g. TRY 35 million or 7% of annual turnover for deploying prohibited AI systems; TRY 7.5 million or 1.5% of annual turnover for providing false information related to AI.
While Turkey is not yet a global leader in #AI, it has a formidable tech sector:
▪Booming innovation hub based on Turkey's young population (median age of 32) and over 100 "technology parks".
▪Strong B2C market, especially in consumer electronics, gaming and e-commerce (with large brands like Vestel and Beko).
▪Well-connected telco infrastructure, with Istanbul being a key hub for underwater cable traffic between Europe and Asia (attracting investment from big cloud companies).
▪Major producer and exporter of unmanned drone tech (though mostly for military use).
As Turkey's AI sector continues to grow, I'm curious to see how Turkey will adapt and customise its EU-style AI law over time.
In that sense, Turkey fits in a broad category of nations who are leaning towards the EU risk-based model, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Korea, Japan and Thailand (though with different levels of alignment).
Out of the above countries, Turkey's strong B2C and hardware-focused sector reminds me of South Korea and Japan, both of whom are favouring more lenient "pro-business" regulation. Perhaps Turkey will follow suit?
👓 Want more?
Check out my Global AI Regulation Tracker which tracks AI policy and law developments across the world on an interactive world map (see link in the 'Visit my website' button above).