The World of Artificial Intelligence!

Egypt's "New Republic" has now existed for just over a decade. During those years, the world has undergone profound transformation. The pace of change has been both rapid and far-reaching, with artificial intelligence (AI) emerging as one of the defining forces shaping contemporary life.

According to the author, ignoring this technological revolution would mean failing to understand the realities of today's world. Even warfare, he argues, has fundamentally changed. The conventional weapons that once defined military power have increasingly been overshadowed by new technologies. In his view, the recent U.S.-Israeli-Iranian confrontation represents the most advanced stage yet in what he describes as the era of AI-enabled warfare, a transformation that began to reveal itself during the conflict in Gaza.

Traditional military assets—including armored vehicles, combat aircraft, and aircraft carriers—appear increasingly less decisive when compared with drones, precision-guided missiles, and other intelligent weapons systems. Conventional weaponry, the author argues, is gradually giving way to military technologies powered by artificial intelligence and advanced digital capabilities.

Iran has invested in the development of drones and guided missile systems incorporating advanced technologies, while Turkey has also emerged as a significant producer of sophisticated defense technologies. The Arab world, by contrast, remains considerably behind these developments.

Yet the transformation extends far beyond weaponry.

Modern warfare increasingly depends on information: identifying targets, determining who launched a missile or drone, and tracing its point of origin. The author notes that, even today, uncertainty remains regarding the origin of the drone reportedly involved in the attack on Egypt's Damietta Port.

Artificial intelligence and advanced data systems, however, are not confined to military applications. Their influence now extends across manufacturing, commerce, education, healthcare, scientific research, and exploration.

This raises a pressing question:

Where does Egypt stand amid this global transformation?

Is the country advancing at the same pace as the rest of the world, or is it still moving in a different direction?

The author observes that Egypt has already established institutions and policies associated with artificial intelligence. These include the National Council for Artificial Intelligence, as well as the country's second National AI Strategy (2025–2030), which aims for AI applications to contribute 7.7 percent of Egypt's GDP by 2030.

The government has also pursued extensive automation initiatives in the New Administrative Capital, established faculties specializing in artificial intelligence, and announced ambitious digital transformation programs.

On paper, these achievements appear substantial.

Reality, however, tells a more complicated story.

According to the author, artificial intelligence remains largely confined to political, economic, and technological elites. A significant digital divide continues to separate advanced technologies from the everyday lives of ordinary citizens.

Many "smart" applications exist more as symbolic displays than as genuinely transformative public services. Citizens still encounter paper documents, bureaucratic procedures, and administrative routines despite official commitments to digital government.

Closing Egypt's digital divide, the author argues, cannot be accomplished through advertising campaigns or official announcements proclaiming the country a digital society.

Instead, meaningful progress requires affordable, high-quality internet access that is within reach of lower-income households.

Fast and reliable connectivity—not merely wider coverage—must become available to everyone.

Likewise, higher customs duties and taxes on computers and smartphones make digital technologies less accessible to young people and ordinary citizens, further widening the digital gap.

The author argues that genuine digital transformation will occur only when everyday public services become fully digitized—from purchasing bus and train tickets to scheduling appointments at public hospitals.

Egypt, he suggests, will truly succeed in the AI era if the Ministry of Health digitizes rural healthcare units and modernizes their current conditions.

Similarly, the Ministry of Agriculture should employ advanced technologies to help replace traditional flood irrigation with drip irrigation as part of addressing the country's growing water challenges.

The author concludes that Egypt's New Republic will leave a lasting legacy only if artificial intelligence moves beyond elite circles, government ministries, and the New Administrative Capital to become part of everyday life—in neighborhoods, schools, farms, and even the queues where citizens obtain subsidized goods.

Artificial intelligence, he argues, has the potential to lift millions of people out of poverty and ignorance—provided that the barriers preventing its widespread adoption are removed.

Originally published in Al-Masry Al-Youm (Egypt).