Kazakh and Chinese science bodies have agreed to form a working group to identify joint artificial intelligence (AI) projects, keeping Astana’s China-facing technology co-operation active after Reuters reported that Washington had drafted a warning to countries pursuing rival initiatives.
The agreement followed an 18 August meeting in Beijing between the heads of the Kazakh and Chinese academies of sciences. The institutions said they had discussed adapting two Chinese AI models for use in Kazakhstan and integrating them with DeepBas, a Kazakh scientific AI platform.
The working group will select projects, research institutes and implementation stages. No deployment, budget, licence or allocation of computing capacity was announced. DeepBas and the wider scientific partnership predate the US dispute, so the meeting shows continuity rather than a Kazakh response to Washington.
The talks came four days after Reuters reported that the US State Department had prepared a letter saying countries could not participate in initiatives with conflicting expectations while remaining in the US-led Pax Silica technology partnership.
But the letter seen by Reuters was undated and internal. The news agency could not establish when it would be sent or whether it would change. No final letter or evidence that it reached Astana had surfaced by 25 August, and Kazakh officials had not commented publicly, according to Southward Tech research.
Kazakhstan was the only country then known to have joined both Pax Silica and the China-proposed World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, or WAICO, according to Reuters. The reported US letter was addressed to the 35 countries and economies that signed the AI Opportunity Partnership joint statement, a broader group than the signatories to Pax Silica.
Kazakhstan joined Pax Silica in Washington on 25 June. Its government said participation could bring investment, technology transfer, data centres, computing resources and trusted AI models, although it announced no specific projects.
By 30 June, a proposal for Kazakhstan to sign the WAICO founding agreement was in public consultation. The country signed the agreement in Shanghai on 16 July. Zhaslan Madiyev, deputy prime minister and AI minister, later presented Kazakhstan’s WAICO role alongside its participation in the two US-linked initiatives.
Signature does not mean the agreement is in force for Kazakhstan. The text requires ratification, acceptance or approval and deposit with the Chinese government. No public record of a Kazakh deposit was found.
Kazakhstan’s US track was also active as the dispute emerged. Two days before the Reuters report, its foreign ministry said talks with Washington had covered critical minerals, advanced technology, digitalisation and investment.
The potential stakes are material. A State Department funding notice lists Kazakhstan among priority economies for a Pax Silica AI assistance project with about $50mn available, subject to funding. It does not make participation conditional on leaving WAICO, and beneficiaries beyond an initial Panama pilot have not been selected.
For now, China’s work with Kazakhstan continues, the US track has not publicly closed and Washington’s warning may yet remain a draft.
Update: Tokayev has since reaffirmed Kazakhstan’s WAICO role, and a vice minister has said Astana will not choose between the US and China on AI.
