THE DAILY EDITION · 2 SEPTEMBER 2026
Turkey to Make Basic AI Literacy Training Mandatory for Public Employees
Turkey is making AI literacy training compulsory for its entire public workforce rather than optional guidance, one of the clearest examples yet of a national government turning AI policy into a binding legal requirement.
ANKARA - Turkey will make basic artificial intelligence literacy training mandatory for public employees, according to an Anadolu Agency report published on Sept. 2, 2026. The training is intended to let civil servants use AI technologies safely and effectively, and follows the targets of the 2026-2030 Turkey Artificial Intelligence Action Plan coordinated by the Ministry of Industry and Technology, the agency said, citing information it obtained.
The courses will be delivered by e-learning and assigned through the human resources systems of public institutions, making them compulsory rather than optional. Employees will also receive short application modules prepared for their particular duties and responsibilities. Institutions will monitor not only whether staff complete the training but how well they perform in it, the report said.
The curriculum covers core AI concepts, the safe use of generative AI tools, protection of personal data, awareness of misinformation and deepfake content, and ethical principles of use. Public employees are among the target groups of the AI literacy programs described in the plan.
Those who finish the training will receive level-based micro-certificates, issued after assessment, that record the basic competencies they have acquired.
Each public institution is to appoint a senior official, reporting to a unit head or the institution’s president, to lead this work. That AI manager will oversee the institution’s portfolio of AI projects and applications and report on progress at regular intervals. The plan describes a scan, pilot and scale cycle, framed by a governance and trust structure covering institutional transformation, identification of use cases, field testing and wider adoption of successful projects.
Once those appointments are complete, every institution is expected to prepare a three-year AI roadmap and annual targets within 12 weeks. Small and medium-sized purchases will be given priority for pilots and first scaled deployments, and startups bidding for public AI contracts will be required to hold a techno-entrepreneur certificate.
The plan sets a target of at least 30 AI pilots at 10 or more ministries within the first 12 months, launched in at least two waves. For at least 10 critical public services, an end-to-end line is to run from pilot stage to scaled deployment. Ministries will systematically survey where AI can be applied, and projects that pass a defined success threshold are to be scaled within six to 12 months.
e-Devlet, the national online portal for public services, is designated as the priority area for transformation. Personalized service routing, preliminary checks of applications and smart document support are to be introduced as pilots first. The plan targets at least five AI-supported citizen services piloted and then scaled through the portal, with personal data protection, explainability of decisions and human oversight applied.
High-impact AI systems deployed in public institutions will also have to pass certification and evaluation processes, according to the report.