Turkey has launched a comprehensive update of its national artificial intelligence strategy, drawing on technological achievements from its defense sector. Coordinated by the Industry and Technology Ministry, the revised roadmap aims to position the country not merely as a consumer of AI technologies but as a designer, manufacturer and competitive global exporter. Government agencies, defense firms including Baykar, and private-sector companies are intensifying efforts to expand AI capabilities spanning large language models, public-sector applications, data infrastructure and autonomous defense systems.

The ministry gathered stakeholder input through what officials termed a "collective intelligence" and "social ownership" approach. The updated "Artificial Intelligence Action Plan" is scheduled for release next month. The roadmap is expected to prioritize expanding AI computing capacity, accelerating digital transformation across industries and public services, and developing a robust domestic ecosystem for advanced AI technologies. Authorities also plan to expand AI-focused education and workforce development programs designed to train specialists capable of converting public-sector data into commercially and strategically valuable applications.

Turkish-language large language model development has emerged as one of the country's most prominent AI initiatives. T3 AI, developed through a partnership between the T3 Foundation and drone pioneer Baykar, entered beta testing in July 2025 via the NSosyal social media platform. The open-source model operates in Turkish and multiple other languages. The project involves cooperation from the Education Ministry, Anadolu Agency, TRT public broadcaster, Turkish Academy of Sciences and Microsoft. Meanwhile, TÜBİTAK continues developing a separate domestic large language model specifically tailored to Turkish linguistic and cultural characteristics.

Turkey is accelerating investments in domestic data-center infrastructure to ensure sensitive data remains stored and processed within national borders. Under a partnership between Turkcell and Google Cloud, hyperscale data centers are planned for Ankara with full operational capacity targeted for 2028. The facilities will support cloud computing, AI training and high-performance data processing while reducing dependence on overseas infrastructure. The defense sector is expected to play a central role in this transformation. The SSB released a request-for-information document for the ALFA Artificial Intelligence, Quantum and Autonomous Systems Exercise. Exercise scenarios include interoperability, unmanned aerial vehicle swarm capabilities, urban operations, underwater infrastructure protection and quantum-encrypted communications. Havelsan has expanded its MAIN corporate AI platform, which emphasizes Turkish-language capabilities and public-sector applications. The platform includes a 9-billion-parameter large language model optimized for Turkish and supports over 200 languages for translation, summarization and text analysis.