Shafaq News- Baghdad
Political blocs in Baghdad are discussing a new ministry for artificial intelligence, yet Iraq's own National Artificial Intelligence Center reports that only 19 of the 64 state institutions it assessed have clear plans to prepare for the technology. The issue points to a recurring dilemma in Iraqi governance: whether new institutions are built to deliver services or to distribute posts.
The idea entered public debate this week when former lawmaker Amir al-Maamouri told Shafaq News that blocs had reached understandings to add new portfolios to Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi's unfinished cabinet. They include a ministry for artificial intelligence or digital investment and the division of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities into two. Nine of al-Zaidi's 23 ministries, Planning among them, are still run by acting officials five months after he took office.
In Iraq, cabinet portfolios are traded under muhasasa, an informal power-sharing system that divides the state among sectarian and ethnic parties according to their parliamentary weight. Each new ministry adds posts to that market. That is why critics read the AI proposal as a question of political bargaining as much as technology policy.
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A Proposal Without A Sponsor
No one has yet put the ministry forward formally. Hassan Wraiwish al-Asadi, head of the Al-Nahj Al-Watani parliamentary bloc and a member of the parliamentary Electricity and Energy Committee, told Shafaq News that the idea has not been formally submitted to parliament, arguing that austerity and the current economic conditions weigh against creating new ministries or splitting existing ones. AI policy, he said, could sit within the Ministry of Communications or the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
A government source, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said some political figures had raised the idea to keep pace with global developments. The source said it is not an approved government project, and there is no current intention to name a minister. It could return under a future government.
Government spokesman Haidar al-Aboudi did not respond to Shafaq News' request for comment. The National Artificial Intelligence Center, which is attached to the Prime Minister's Office, also had not responded by the time of publication.
What The State's Own Data Shows
The strongest case against moving quickly comes from the government's own figures. According to data published by the National AI Center and cited by researcher and academic Saif al-Karawi, most institutions covered by its readiness assessment have no clear plan for adopting AI. The updated national AI strategy has been prepared for circulation to ministries only after revisions to meet Ministry of Planning requirements. That ministry currently has no confirmed minister.
The strategy's history shows how slowly Iraq moves from intention to implementation. Baghdad began developing its first national AI strategy in August 2024 under a supreme committee chaired by the prime minister. Two years and one change of government later, the document is still being refined.
International benchmarks show the same picture. Iraq ranked 107th of 188 countries in Oxford Insights' 2024 Government AI Readiness Index, scoring 40.91 out of 100, up from 133rd globally in 2023.
The breakdown in the 2024 index was particularly revealing. Iraq scored 32.60 on the government pillar, which covered strategy, regulation, and institutional capacity, and 35.87 on technology. Its strongest score, 54.25, came in data and infrastructure. The figures suggested that government capacity was a greater weakness than physical and data infrastructure —precisely the institutional gap a new ministry would be expected to address.
In the latest edition, Iraq ranked 128th in Oxford Insights' 2025 Government AI Readiness Index, with an overall score of 29.37. Oxford Insights revised the index's methodology that year, meaning the 2024 and 2025 scores are not directly comparable.
Al-Asadi pointed to a constraint that no institutional chart can solve. Iraq's chronic electricity shortages, he said, pose an additional obstacle to running the computing systems AI requires. Data centers need stable power, and much of Iraq still lives with daily outages.
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The Case For An Institution
Former lawmaker Hussein Arab told Shafaq News that an e-governance or AI ministry could serve a practical purpose, because "Iraq still lacks an integrated electronic system linking its ministries, and most current connections are partial." He proposed staffing it with existing civil servants rather than building a new bureaucracy.
Haidar Shalal Mutab, an academic specializing in media and communication, said a national AI institution could help Iraq keep pace with global change, but only after a realistic assessment of the country's infrastructure, telecommunications, education and data integration.
He told Shafaq News that a phased approach drawing on universities and research centers was more likely to succeed. “A ministry would be judged by whether it turns plans into working applications backed by sustainable funding, national expertise and measurable targets, not by the fact that it exists.”
No Single Regional Model
Al-Karawi noted that governments have organized AI policy in very different ways. Kazakhstan has a Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development, combining AI with e-government, data management, telecommunications, and information security. The UAE assigns the file to a minister of state for artificial intelligence, the digital economy, and remote work applications rather than a standalone ministry. Lebanon took a similar route in 2025, appointing a minister of state for information technology and artificial intelligence affairs rather than creating a standalone ministry.
Saudi Arabia chose a different path. It built its effort around a national strategy for data and AI with quantified goals: investment of roughly 75 billion riyals, training more than 20,000 specialists and supporting more than 300 startups. A dedicated authority implements the strategy.
According to al-Karawi, these experiences show that what matters is an integrated system of data, research and digital transformation, not a ministry carrying the technology's name. The debate in Baghdad, he said, should move from what to call the institution to how its budget would be spent. “The real choice is whether money goes into technical and research capacity, or into a new administrative structure with posts, directorates and operating allowances.”
Regulation Without A Ministry
Part of the work a new ministry would claim is already underway elsewhere in the state. Iraq's Communications and Media Commission (CMC), the federal regulator for broadcasting and telecommunications, has said it is preparing regulations to govern AI applications. In July, CMC spokesman Haidar Najm al-Allaq told Shafaq News that investment in data centers, cloud computing and communications networks should come first, alongside training national staff and bringing AI into education.
Posts before capacity
Parliament is expected to meet on Thursday to fill the vacant portfolios, and disputes over several of them persist. If political negotiations create demand for additional cabinet posts, a digital or AI portfolio could become one option. If al-Zaidi holds to his stated interest in merging ministries to cut costs, the idea is likely to return to the drawer where the 2024 proposal ended up.
Either outcome leaves the underlying problem untouched. Iraq already has a national AI center, a strategy still in draft, and a regulator writing rules. Fewer than a third of the state institutions surveyed know how they would use the technology. So, would a fourth body succeed where the first three have not yet finished their work?
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Written and edited by Shafaq News staff.