Students in Kazakhstan can study AI and IT free for three years: who gets the funding

Kazakhstan announced a program under which students can spend three years studying artificial intelligence and IT specialties free of charge, with the state covering tuition. It continues the push for mass digital workforce training: the country explicitly links economic growth to the labor market's ability to work with AI.

For employers the news matters more than it seems. In a few years a sizable wave of graduates will enter the market for whom AI tools are a natural habitat rather than a novelty. Companies that by then have digitized processes and clear tasks for such specialists will skim the cream; the rest will compete for them on salary alone.

A practical step for business right now is not to wait for graduates but to open internships and practicums around specific automation tasks: students in specialized programs have both motivation and fresh skills. In parallel, prepare the internal environment — data access, sandboxes for experiments, mentors. The cheapest way to get talent first is to grow it on your own processes.