What happened
Although Türkiye does not have a specific law regulating artificial intelligence (AI), there are certain sector-specific rules and mainly governmental strategies. The latest one is National AI Strategy Action Plan 2024-25 (“Action Plan”), published on the website of Digital Transformation Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye (“DTO”) on July 24, 2024. The aim of the Action Plan, which is introduced based on “National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2021-2025”, is to address the new needs arising from the current developments in the generative AI technologies.
Action Plan includes 71 actions, with the following highlights.
- Legislation: National legislation will be introduced in compliance with international norms regulating the development and use of AI systemhttps://cbddo.gov.tr/uyzss and the placing of AI systems on the market. While there is no adoption yet, the EU Artificial Intelligence Act comes to mind. In addition to the DTO, Ministry of Industry and Technology & Ministry of Trade will be taking role here.
- New Committees: An expert committee will be established to set technical and ethical standards for generative AI models (LLM, LAM, etc.) to be developed domestically and to manage such process. Ministry of Industry and Technology will be supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBITAK). On the other hand, Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs shall be responsible for “International AI Studies Monitoring and Coordination Committee” to track international studies in the field of AI and to ensure effective participation and contribution of Türkiye to these studies.
- Intellectual Property: Guidelines will be prepared to clarify the intellectual property rights regarding the content generated by AI and standardization efforts will be made regarding the patentability of AI products. Turkish Patent and Trademark Office will be the responsible institution.
- Cybersecurity: Efforts to develop the related policies and legislation will be undertaken to centralize the detection, prevention and mitigation of new generation cyber threats, especially those powered by AI, directed against Türkiye’s presence in cyberspace.
- Trust & Certification: Turkish Standards Institution’s “AI Risk Management System Certification Program” will be introduced to enable risk-based assessment of AI products. Also, a “Trusted AI Stamp” will be created in accordance with the certification mechanism for encouraging the audit and legal compliance of AI applications.
- AI Institute: The institutional capacity of TÜBITAK’s AI Institute will be improved to support the entire ecosystem and a Core AI Research Group will be established within the Institute.
- R&D Support: A “Central Public Data Space” will be established by preparing an inventory of the data owned by public institutions and organizations, and mechanisms will be developed to make these data available to researchers and technology developers. A special mechanism will be also designed for global technology companies to carry out their R&D activities in the field of AI in Türkiye. Last but not least, under the responsibility of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization of Türkiye, a support program will be implemented to encourage the use of AI products and solutions, which are developed through R&D activities carried out in Türkiye, by SMEs.
Background
Presidential Circular No. 2021/18 on the “National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2021-2025” was prepared in cooperation with the DTO and the Ministry of Industry and Technology. Right after that, “National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2021-2025” was published on the website of DTO on August 24, 2021. The Strategy determines the measures that will put Türkiye’s efforts in the field of AI between the years 2021-2025 on a common ground and the governance mechanism that will be established to implement these measures. In the Strategy, “AI” is defined generally as the ability of a computer or computer-controlled robot to perform various activities in a similar way to intelligent creatures. The term AI is used for systems equipped with human cognitive abilities such as reasoning, discovery of meaning, generalization or learning from past experiences in dynamic and uncertain environments.
General Overview of Türkiye’s Legislative Atmosphere
As mentioned, Türkiye does not have a comprehensive legislative tool directly regulating AI. Similar to many jurisdictions, personal data protection and cybersecurity laws are the most commonly applied. There are also specific rules for certain AI-related activities.
- Recommendations on the Protection of Personal Data within the Field of Artificial has been published on the official website of the Personal Data Protection Authority on September 15, 2021. This Guide provides recommendations on the protection of personal data in AI applications in a way including developers, manufacturers, service providers and decision makers in the field of AI. The structure and recommendations are mostly adapted from the Council of Europe’s Guidelines on Artificial Intelligence and Data Protection.
- The use of AI has also affected advertising rules. Advertising Board, established under the Ministry of Trade, has included advertisements created using AI on its agenda for the first time in September 2023. Accordingly, regardless of the way they are created or the medium in which they are published, these contents created by AI, which directly or indirectly affect the purchasing decisions of consumers, have been examined by the Advertising Board. In this context, administrative sanctions were imposed on 3 files related to advertisements created by "ChatGPT", as these advertisements included statements creating the perception of superiority over competing products or companies and which were not based on objective research results.
- Under the electronic communication legislation, certain criteria are determined for AI to be used in identity authentication processors in order to verify the identities of applicants who wish to receive certain electronic communication services.
- In the finance sector, pursuant to the Regulation on Remote Identification Methods to be Used by Financial Leasing, Factoring, Financing and Savings Finance Companies and Establishment of Contractual Relationship in Electronic Environment, for transactions not exceeding a certain amount, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency is authorized to determine the principles regarding the transactions to be performed by the customer representative as referred to in this regulation with AI-based methods. Similarly, pursuant to the Regulation on Remote Identification Methods to be Used by Banks and Establishment of Contractual Relationship in Electronic Environment, they are authorized to determine the procedures and principles regarding the transactions to be performed by AI-based methods, which are stated to be performed by the customer representative in this regulation.
- In addition, there are soft laws and various guidelines that establish principles. For example, Council of Higher Education developed "Ethical Guidelines on the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Scientific Research and Publication Activities of Higher Education Institutions" to address the ethical considerations arising from the integration of AI into higher education processes.
