Kazakhstan’s AI law and Kyrgyzstan’s winter of discontent

Kazakhstan has now adopted a dedicated law on artificial intelligence, a step the government has been signalling for more than a year. Parliament approved the measure in October, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed it into force a few days before this episode was recorded.The authorities present the legislation as a necessary foundation for developing the country’s AI sector. The stated aim is to create a clearer operating environment for businesses, attract international companies, and establish Kazakhstan as a regional leader in emerging technologies. The law follows a risk-based model similar to frameworks being developed in Europe and other jurisdictions.One notable feature is the emphasis on self-assessment and voluntary compliance mechanisms for private companies. Businesses developing or deploying AI tools are expected to evaluate risks themselves and conduct audits on their own initiative. Public debate around the legislation was limited, and many of the practical questions, such as implementation, safeguards, oversight, remain open. As the rule-making phase begins, these conversations are likely to become more prominent, especially as ministries, businesses, and civil society groups attempt to interpret how the framework will operate in practice.This week’s interview steps away from abstractions and looks at a problem that is measurable in every breath taken in Almaty. Almaty Air Initiative chief executive Zhuldyz Saulebekova explains how the city’s air-quality crisis has moved from official denial to grudging acceptance, and why the real bottleneck now is political will rather than data. Fully 200 new sensors have generated unprecedented transparency, but little of that has translated into decisive action on winter pollution sources such as coal-burning households and the expensive “last mile” connections needed to make gasification real rather than statistical.Saulebekova argues that activists have won the argument on awareness; whether they can force a shift in winter heating policy is the more consequential test.The final segment turns to Kyrgyzstan, where a wave of arrests has landed on the eve of early parliamentary elections and amid a deepening electricity crisis. Authorities may deny any political motivation, but the optics are hard to ignore: opposition figures rounded up under the familiar pretext of “preparing mass unrest” just as the country is rationing power, dimming streetlights, and cutting voltage to homes.With water levels at the Toktogul hydropower plant at historic lows, cryptocurrency blamed for excessive consumption, and neighbours scrambling to supply emergency electricity, the government is signalling zero tolerance for protest at the moment when tempers are sharpest. Whether this produces stability or merely suppresses symptoms remains unclear. Get full access to Havli - A Central Asia Substack at havli.substack.com/subscribe