Kyrgyzstan in the GIRAI 2023 Assessment: What the Human Rights and AI Dimension Found
In 2023, the Global Index on Responsible AI (GIRAI) published its first edition — a baseline assessment of national AI ecosystems across more than 140 countries. The index maps three top-level dimensions: Responsible AI Governance, Human Rights and AI, and National Responsible AI Capacities. Kyrgyzstan was included as one of the assessed countries, with research conducted locally by Aziz Soltobaev and submitted to the regional hub (IDFI, Georgia).
This post covers the Human Rights and AI dimension — twelve thematic areas, each assessed for the presence of national frameworks, government actions, and engagement from private sector, civil society, and academia.
The Three-Dimensional Breakdown
GIRAI structures every country profile across three top-level dimensions. Each dimension is evaluated through thematic areas and actor categories (national framework, government action, private sector, civil society, academia). The legend used in the tables below: ✓ = documented evidence approved by GIRAI headquarters · ◐ = drafted, planned, or partially documented · — = no documented evidence at the time of assessment.
Dimension 1 — Responsible AI Governance
| Thematic area | Status | Evidence (Kyrgyzstan) |
|---|---|---|
| Enabling policies | ◐ | Digital Code Chapter 23 “Systems of Artificial Intelligence” drafted (Aug 2023 public consultation); risk-based AI governance framework comparable to EU AI Act in intent. Not adopted as of Feb 2024. |
| Rule of law | ◐ | 100+ fragmented legal acts cover digital space; the Digital Code is designed to consolidate them. Existing acts do not address AI specifically. |
| Technical standards | — | No national AI technical standards in force. |
| Technology-specific regulation | ◐ | State Language Programme 2021–2025 and Cabinet Action Plan to 2026 contain binding AI provisions for Kyrgyz-language NLP. No AI-specific regulation in surveillance, finance, or other domains. |
Dimension 2 — Human Rights and AI
| Thematic area | Framework | Gov. action | Private sector | Civil society | Academia |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freedom of Expression | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Public Participation | — | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
| Data Protection | — | — | — | — | — |
| Cultural & Linguistic Diversity | ✓ | — | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Health & Well-Being | — | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
| Children’s Rights | — | — | — | — | — |
| Indigenous Data Sovereignty | — | — | — | — | — |
| Bias & Unfair Discrimination | — | — | — | — | — |
| Gender Equality | — | ✓ | — | ✓ | — |
| Education | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Environmental Protection | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Labour Protection | — | — | — | ✓ | — |
Dimension 3 — National Responsible AI Capacities
| Sub-dimension | Status | Evidence (Kyrgyzstan) |
|---|---|---|
| Institutions | ✓ | National Commission for State Language and Language Policy under the President serves as named implementing agency for both binding AI policy documents. Academia engaged on Kyrgyz-language NLP. Civil society confirmed active in AI space. |
| Investments | ✓ | Binding government commitments via the State Language Programme and Cabinet Action Plan. Investment specifically oriented to a rights-adjacent outcome (linguistic preservation). Kyrgyz Multilingual Foundation Model in development under national AI supercluster (2025–2026). |
| Competencies | ✓ | Distributed competency across language-policy implementing agency, NLP-focused academia, and economics-reporting media (Tazabek). Not narrow AI-governance specialists; domain experts where AI intersects their work. |
Where Evidence Was Found
Cultural and Linguistic Diversity — Framework, Private Sector, Academia
This is Kyrgyzstan’s clearest strength in the dimension. Two binding policy documents explicitly name AI in relation to the Kyrgyz language.
The Action Plan of the Cabinet of Ministers for the implementation of the National Development Program until 2026 (approved December 25, 2021) is the first of two confirmed framework documents. Section 597 — titled “Software product development (artificial intelligence)” — assigns development of AI-based software for translation into and from the Kyrgyz language, and for semantic analysis of Kyrgyz-language text. The expected result is stated as: a software product for translation between Kyrgyz and other languages, and the introduction of the Kyrgyz language into information technologies implemented within AI projects. The responsible implementing agency is the National Commission for State Language and Language Policy under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic. The document is binding and covers the design and development stage of the AI lifecycle.
The Program for the Development of the State Language and Improvement of Language Policy 2021–2025 (Resolution of the Kyrgyz Republic Government No. 51, October 1, 2020) is the second confirmed framework document. Chapter 5 — “Digitalization of the State Language” — contains four measures specifying the use of AI and semantic systems (natural language processing) to support the Kyrgyz language. Point 55 of Chapter 5 specifically addresses the AI development dimension. The program is binding across all state and non-state sectors, developed under the Constitution and the Law on the State Language of the Kyrgyz Republic. Private sector and academic actors were also found engaged on this thematic area. That policy direction has continued: by 2025–2026, Kyrgyzstan launched development of a Kyrgyz Multilingual Foundation Model as part of its national AI supercluster initiative, designed to power translation systems, educational tools, and public service chatbots in the Kyrgyz language. The GIRAI 2023 assessment captures the policy foundation from which that work grew.
Education — Framework, Government Action, Civil Society, Academia
Education is the most broadly covered area — positive responses across four of five actor categories. National education policy includes provisions on AI literacy and digital skills, reflected in government action and taken up by both civil society organizations and academic institutions. This breadth aligns with the active national digital skills strategy work carried out during the same period, including the UNDP-supported strategy for digital competencies.
Freedom of Expression — Framework
A national legal framework addressing AI in the context of freedom of expression was found and approved by GIRAI headquarters. Kyrgyzstan’s broader information and communications legislation contains provisions relevant to the intersection of automated systems and expression — confirmed as meeting the index’s evidentiary standard.
Public Participation — Government Action, Academia
Government action and academic engagement on AI and public participation were both confirmed. Public consultation processes around digital infrastructure — including the Digital Code’s August 2023 publication for public review — represent the kind of structured participation mechanism the index captures under this thematic area.
Gender Equality — Government Action, Civil Society
Government action and civil society engagement on AI and gender equality were confirmed. National programs addressing women’s economic participation in the digital sector provide the government-side evidence; civil society organizations working on digital inclusion and gender were found active in the same space.
Health and Well-Being — Government Action, Academia
Evidence of government action and academic engagement on AI and health was confirmed. Kyrgyzstan has pursued digital health infrastructure as part of its broader digitalization agenda — telemedicine service standardization and digital health records work fall within this scope and were captured by the assessment.
Labour Protection — Civil Society
Tazabek, the Bishkek-based business and economics media platform, was the confirmed civil society actor for this thematic area. The platform covers banking, real estate, energy, agriculture, and IT and telecommunications, with regular market pricing data updated multiple times daily — making it one of the few Kyrgyz-language outlets with the editorial infrastructure to track algorithmic pricing effects on wages and market conditions. Its reporting on how automated pricing systems affect labour market dynamics represents the kind of non-state engagement the index captures under labour protection and AI.
Environmental Protection — Academia
Academic engagement on AI and environmental protection was confirmed. Kyrgyzstan’s geography — over 90 percent of its territory above 1,500 meters, with significant glacier coverage and climate sensitivity — makes environmental AI research a natural area of academic interest, and this was reflected in the assessment.
What Was Not Found
Four thematic areas returned no confirmed evidence across all actor categories: Data Protection, Children’s Rights, Indigenous Data Sovereignty, and Bias and Unfair Discrimination. The last of these is notable: Kyrgyzstan has no national law, government initiative, private sector program, civil society activity, or academic work addressing bias and discrimination in AI systems that met the index’s documentation standard.
On the Responsible AI Governance dimension, the picture is absent for adopted legislation. Kyrgyzstan’s existing regulatory base spans more than 100 fragmented legal acts covering digital space — none of which addresses AI or big data adequately. The Digital Code — initiated by a Presidential Decree of December 18, 2020 and published for public consultation in August 2023 — was designed to consolidate all of this into a single instrument. Its Chapter 23, “Systems of Artificial Intelligence,” would have established a risk-based AI governance framework: definitions of high-risk AI systems, requirements for risk management, transparency and explainability, human oversight, data quality standards, and technical documentation obligations — a structure comparable in intent to the EU AI Act. The draft was published for public comment via the national regulatory consultation portal (koomtalkuu.gov.kg). A revised version was expected by end of 2023; as of February 2024, it had not been adopted. The full GIRAI answers and evidence explorer for Kyrgyzstan is available through the GIRAI platform.
Research conducted as part of the Global Index on Responsible AI (GIRAI) 1st Edition, 2023. Kyrgyzstan country researcher: Aziz Soltobaev. Regional hub: IDFI (Georgia). Publication consent: Yes. Authorship consent: Yes.
