Morocco Stresses Education and Moral Guidelines for AI Transformation
In a recent statement, Minister Younes Skouri highlighted the decisive role of artificial intelligence (AI) in transforming Morocco's labor market. The North African nation is taking significant strides to integrate AI into its education, labor market, and energy transition strategies, as evidenced by recent national events and policy discussions.
Education is at the forefront of Morocco's AI transformation. Authorities are emphasizing the importance of training both public and private sector actors in AI tools to fully harness their potential. The Minister of National Education, Preschool, and Sports has underscored the importance of mastering AI for improving educational management and addressing challenges such as student and teacher data processing. AI's potential includes personalizing curricula, supporting continuous teacher training, enhancing language learning, and helping reduce absenteeism and dropout rates.
Morocco is investing in digital literacy and AI skills through initiatives like the 1337 coding school, which serves as a model for training tech-savvy youth and is recommended for wider adoption to meet labor market needs.
For the labor market, AI presents both opportunities and challenges. On one hand, AI can drive productivity gains and create high-skill jobs in sectors like fintech, edtech, agritech, and cybersecurity, fostering innovation and combating youth unemployment. On the other hand, automation threatens routine and low-skill jobs in manufacturing, retail, transport, and administration, underscoring the need for targeted education and retraining programs. The government is working to integrate AI within a tailored legal and regulatory framework to unlock its full potential for economic inclusion and job creation. The private sector is calling for more skilled engineers and digital talent, highlighting the success of technology training models that should be expanded to address evolving market demands.
The link between energy and AI is a key consideration in Morocco's strategy. The Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development has directly tied the development of AI to the availability of reliable and sustainable energy, noting that servers, data centers, and AI systems all depend on robust energy infrastructure. Morocco plans to double its capacity for producing non-conventional energy (such as renewable energy) within five years, aiming to meet the increased demand driven by digital transformation and AI adoption. This leap is expected to match the progress made over the past three decades, positioning Morocco as a leader in sustainable digital growth.
Morocco's approach to AI integration is organized around three strategic pillars: infrastructure development, talent training and education, and targeted financing. These efforts reflect Morocco's commitment to transforming AI challenges into opportunities for sustainable, inclusive, and sovereign growth across education, the labor market, and the energy sector.
Training is an indispensable condition for seizing the opportunities offered by new technologies. The first plenary session of the National Debate on Artificial Intelligence took place on Tuesday 01 July in Salé, under the high patronage of King Mohammed VI, at the initiative of the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administration Reform, with the slogan "An effective and ethical artificial intelligence strategy at the service of our society".
As AI continues to profoundly transform societies, economies, and work patterns, Morocco is well-positioned to leverage this technology for its own growth and development. With its strong digital connectivity and increasing openness to technologies applied in various sectors, including medicine, agriculture, services, etc., Morocco is poised to become a leader in the AI revolution.
Technology and education are integral to Morocco's AI strategy, with authorities prioritizing the training of both public and private sector actors in AI tools for educational management, fostering opportunities for personalized curricula, continuous teacher training, improved language learning, and reduced absenteeism and dropout rates. Additionally, the government is investing in digital literacy and AI skills through initiatives like the 1337 coding school to meet the demands of the labor market, an area where AI presents both opportunities and challenges, particularly in sectors like fintech, edtech, agritech, and cybersecurity.
