Egypt Ranks First in Africa in the 2025 Government AI Readiness Index Issued by Oxford Insights

Egypt ranked first in Africa in the 2025 Government AI Readiness Index issued by Oxford Insights, advancing 14 positions to rank 51st globally out of 195 countries, with a score of 57.5 points, compared to 65th place out of 188 countries and a score of 55.6 points in 2024. Egypt also ranked third in the Arab region, up from seventh place last year.

Policy Capacity

Egypt topped the global ranking in the Policy Capacity pillar, achieving a full score of 100 points, alongside the United Kingdom, Serbia, and Australia.

This pillar measures governments’ ability to design and implement effective AI policies aligned with a clear national vision for directing AI applications to serve the state, as well as assessing the availability of resources needed to implement this vision and the level of participation in relevant international agreements.

National Resilience

Egypt also ranked first in the Arab region in the Resilience pillar, which assesses a country’s ability to manage the social, economic, and environmental challenges resulting from the expansion of AI adoption, including preparedness to address potential risks that may impact societal security due to the widespread deployment of AI systems.

Government Efforts

Commenting on the index results, Dr. Amr Talaat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, affirmed that this progress reflects the success of the Ministry’s efforts to leverage AI technologies in serving society through establishing a comprehensive policy framework that supports the responsible and effective use of AI technologies, most notably the launch of the second edition of Egypt’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy in early 2025.

Strategic Pillars

He noted that the strategy is built on six main pillars: governance to ensure responsible AI use; application development to harness AI technologies to enhance service efficiency and develop key sectors; improving data availability and quality through regulation and governance; providing advanced infrastructure to enable AI development and deployment.

Building a supportive innovation ecosystem by empowering local startups and attracting venture capital investments; and developing and expanding the national pool of AI skills and competencies.

International Cooperation

Dr. Talaat added that Egypt’s progress in the index was driven by enhanced international and regional cooperation, strengthened partnerships with global institutions and companies, as well as the expansion of specialized digital capacity-building programs implemented by the Ministry for various age groups and government employees, in addition to organizing specialized competitions and supporting scientific research and innovative ideas in the field of artificial intelligence.

Cybersecurity Strength

He further highlighted Egypt’s excellence in cybersecurity, ranking among the world’s top 12 countries with a full score of 100 points in the Global Cybersecurity Index issued by the International Telecommunication Union, supporting the development of a secure and trusted AI ecosystem.

Smart Applications

Dr. Talaat also pointed to the achievements of the Applied Innovation Center in developing intelligent systems serving vital sectors, including an AI-powered early breast cancer detection system and a speech-to-text solution integrated into the remote litigation system.

Upward Trajectory

It is worth noting that Egypt advanced by 46 positions in the Government AI Readiness Index between 2019 and 2024, rising from 111th place globally in 2019 to 65th place in 2024.

Source: Press Release