Bangladesh Launches National AI Strategy with $500M Investment

The government has launched its National Artificial Intelligence Policy 2026, committing $500 million over five years to position Bangladesh as South Asia's leading AI hub. The strategy targets 100,000 AI-trained professionals, 50 AI research centres and AI integration across 20 government ministries.

Key Initiatives

The Bangladesh AI Academy will offer free certification courses in machine learning, natural language processing and computer vision for 100,000 graduates by 2028. The curriculum was co-developed with MIT, Google DeepMind and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

Public Service AI

Health, agriculture, tax collection and land administration are the first four ministries to integrate AI. An AI-powered diagnostic tool will be deployed in 500 upazila health complexes to assist doctors with X-ray and ultrasound analysis.

Ethical Guardrails

A National AI Ethics Board with civil society, academia and industry representation will oversee algorithmic transparency, data privacy and bias auditing — one of the first such mandatory frameworks in South Asia.