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Published (non-binding, current)Non-binding · Guidelines / framework

Artificial Intelligence in Qatar: Principles and Guidelines for Ethical Development and Deployment

Record QA-01

Issued by
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT)
Jurisdiction
Qatar
Level · region
National · Middle East & North Africa
Published / adopted
2024-05-16
Language
English

Summary

Voluntary, non-binding guidance from Qatar's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology for developers and deployers of AI systems that affect the public. It sets eight principles: do no harm; ensure robustness, security and safety; avoid perpetuating bias and discrimination; protect the environment; safeguard privacy; promote transparency; develop a human-centred approach; and assign ultimate accountability to humans. It calls for risk evaluations before deployment, robustness testing, continuous monitoring, discrimination impact assessments, bias audits, human intervention and appeal for consequential decisions, and external audits of systems that inform significant decisions.

Safety topics

accountability & liabilityevaluation & testingtransparency & labellinghuman oversight

Status notes

Posted on the government e-participation portal Sharek on 16 May 2024 together with the companion 'Artificial Intelligence in Qatar—Principles and Guidelines for Ethical Use', which addresses users of AI systems such as private companies, government agencies, the public and students. Both documents are to be updated every one to two years. The guidelines are aligned with UNESCO and OECD standards and refer to the National Cyber Security Agency's 'Guidelines for Secure Adoption and Usage of Artificial Intelligence' for risk evaluation and security standards.

Sources

Open the official source https://www.sharek.gov.qa/en/conversations/forum-communication-and-it/artificial-intelligence-in-qatarprinciples-and-guidelines-for-ethical-use/66459f29a539ca547cb4f702

Secondary source: https://prod16-assets.sprinklr.com/prod16-cdata/DAM/160136/33fb390b-d120-47f2-8708-532dcb1e15c3-1252740832/MCIT_National_AI_Strategy_-_AI.pdf

Local copy

Archived. A source changed since the previous snapshot; both versions are kept. Last attempt 2026-10-18 04:07:49 UTC

Official source (third-party copy, not published) archive/QA-01/2026-10-18/official-2.html
Retrieved 2026-10-18 04:07:53 UTC
SHA-256 dea7fc36734bb74842f287277053120edfa516f3c994d608b372966053c5c8ad
Secondary source (third-party copy, not published) archive/QA-01/2026-10-11/secondary.pdf
Retrieved 2026-10-11 19:46:32 UTC
SHA-256 cd255ff29ad1426f2399ac9b4a8ff96c1d7ad80598582684d5949e5780e432b2

Verification

B
Another official source, such as an announcement by the issuer, confirms the title, date and status. checked 2026-10-18 · alternative-official-url-fetched
Recheck of 18 Oct 2026. Stored: the Sharek forum post on sharek.gov.qa, captured on 11 Oct 2026 with the post text, its date and the titles of the two attached documents, and again on 18 Oct 2026, when the capture held only the page frame and a reader's response without the post text; and the development-and-deployment guidelines PDF (13 pages) from prod16-assets.sprinklr.com, a host pipeline/official-sites.json lists as proposed, so its quotes count as secondary. The 11 Oct capture confirms the title, the 16 May 2024 posting date, the companion document and the non-binding, voluntary nature; the PDF confirms MCIT's authorship, the eight principles and the guidelines. Sharek is a government portal, but no stored file shows that MCIT runs it, so its quotes are labelled alt-official. MCIT's own pages on mcit.gov.qa answered with a maintenance page or HTTP 500 in an earlier run; the AI Committee page, requested again in this run, answered HTTP 403 to the archiver, also in the browser, so it is not stored. Trackers give conflicting dates (2024 issue; 8 May 2025 'effective'), and a Qatar News Agency report of 25 May 2025 describes the documents as recently issued by MCIT; none of these is stored.
Second check: Independent check by Claude Code (claude-sonnet-5-5), 2026-10-18: 4 field(s) supported.

History

  1. 2026-10-18notes: Posted on the government e-participation portal Sharek on 16 May 2024 together w → Posted on the government e-participation portal Sharek on 16 May 2024 together w — rewritten: Sharek posting and companion document from the 11 Oct capture, NCSA reference from the PDF; the 'six principles' of the companion document (not in a stored file) and the Qatar News Agency report moved out; the list of Qatari instruments not in the register moved to leads2026-10-18-recheck-mena-africa-1 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
  2. 2026-10-18summary: Voluntary, legally non-binding guidance from Qatar's MCIT for organisations deve → Voluntary, non-binding guidance from Qatar's Ministry of Communications and Info — rewritten from the stored PDF: the guidelines as the PDF states them (risk evaluations before deployment, discrimination impact assessments, bias audits, human intervention and appeal, external audits); the companion document and review cycle moved to notes2026-10-18-recheck-mena-africa-1 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)

Citation

Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT). Artificial Intelligence in Qatar: Principles and Guidelines for Ethical Development and Deployment. 2024-05-16. https://www.sharek.gov.qa/en/conversations/forum-communication-and-it/artificial-intelligence-in-qatarprinciples-and-guidelines-for-ethical-use/66459f29a539ca547cb4f702. Status: Published (non-binding, current); verified 2026-10-18 (level B). Local copy archive/QA-01/2026-10-18/official-2.html retrieved 2026-10-18 04:07:53 UTC, SHA-256 dea7fc36734bb74842f287277053120edfa516f3c994d608b372966053c5c8ad. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record QA-01.

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