Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has ordered the shifting of all government communications on foreign platforms that contain citizens’ personal data to domestic "superapp" Aitu.

Speaking at a meeting on artificial intelligence (AI) development, Tokayev said a significant portion of official correspondence ––involving, for instance, exchanges of personal identification numbers, health records and other sensitive details –– was currently conducted through international messaging services, Kursiv reported on August 12. He said such an approach could breach Kazakhstan’s data protection laws and risked the exposure of information outside the Central Asian country’s jurisdiction.

“Meanwhile, Kazakhstan has developed a domestic messenger, Aitu, capable of providing the necessary level of security,” Tokayev said. “The government needs to work out the issue of transferring all communications containing personal data to a secure national messenger.”

Aitu was developed by Kazakh company BTS Digital, owned by Phoenix Fund. Phoenix Fund’s stakeholders include Kazakhtelecom, the national telecommunications operator; ERG Investment Projects; and Digital Opportunities I Limited, whose founder is Olzhas Ukenov, head of the Almak Capital venture fund.

As of late 2020, Aitu had 1.4mn registered users, with between 100,000 and 150,000 active daily users, almost all based in Kazakhstan, a country of around 20mn people.

Tokayev, meanwhile, has expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of Kazakhstan’s AI development, saying progress with infrastructure, legislation and implementation was unsatisfactory, Kursiv also reported.

Chairing a meeting on AI attended by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, head of the presidential administration Aibek Dadebay, cabinet members and senior officials, Tokayev highlighted the scale of global technological change driven by AI. He cited the US administration’s recently unveiled "America’s AI Action Plan", describing it as a strategy to maintain technological, economic and defence leadership.

“Our specialists should carefully study this and other similar documents and draw practical conclusions,” Tokayev said. 

He also referred to China’s proposal to establish a global organisation for AI cooperation aimed at promoting multilateral governance, narrowing the digital divide, advancing ethics and encouraging sustainable use of AI. 

“I believe China’s proposal should be supported and we should participate in the preparatory activities,” he added.

The president reiterated Kazakhstan’s ambition to become Eurasia’s digital hub and noted that he had earlier given instructions for the creation of the necessary infrastructure, the drafting of legislation, the establishment of data collection systems and the initiation of AI deployment. “However, the progress in executing these instructions is unsatisfactory,” Tokayev stated.