In Kazakhstan, 2026 has been declared the Year of Artificial Intelligence. The state is betting on the integration of AI into public services, the further demonopolization of eGov, and the development of a cashless economy.
What happened
Minister of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan Zhaslan Madiyev revealed details of the country’s ongoing digital infrastructure transformation in an interview with Armanzhan Baitasov.
Among the key initiatives and metrics:
- eGov GPT: The introduction of an AI agent that will allow citizens to receive public services in an end-to-end dialogue format without leaving the chat window.
- PSC Transformation: Due to the transition of services online, attendance at Public Service Centers (PSCs) has already dropped by 30% (down 1.2 million people). A 50% decrease in traffic is expected. In the future, 70% of PSC space will be occupied by self-service zones.
- Digitization: 92% of more than 1,300 public services are available online. Over 35 types of digital documents are legally equivalent to physical ones.
- IT Services Export: Export volume grew by more than 30% and exceeded the $1.1 billion mark ahead of schedule. The next targets are $2 billion and $5 billion.
Country and market
Kazakhstan is one of the regional leaders in the penetration of GovTech solutions. Up to 90% of transactions in the country are cashless, and the National Bank is actively piloting the digital tenge. A major market driver has been the opening of the state API to the private sector: today, Kazakhstanis receive most of the highly demanded public services not through the e-government portal, but directly in commercial bank apps (Kaspi, Halyk, and others).
Why it matters
The integration of AI into public services is a logical step following the successful digitization of basic documents and the opening of APIs for banks. The main signal here is that the state is definitively moving from a ‘single window’ model to a distributed infrastructure: routine services are shifting to banking apps, while the remaining government interfaces are being automated through artificial intelligence. This reduces the burden on the budget and changes the very essence of PSC operations, turning them from places to stand in line into digital self-service points.
What’s next
The next stage is assessing the real-world effectiveness of eGov GPT in practice: how correctly the AI agent can process complex user requests without the involvement of live operators. The market will also have to observe whether the local startup ecosystem can scale to achieve the new export target of $2 billion.