Briefly on our work:

We conducted a dictionary-based analysis of more than 600 news articles published between January 2023 and December 2025 across four major outlets: the state-aligned Informburo.kz, the pro-government commercial Tengrinews, and the independent outlets Vlast.kz and Ulys Media.

Using bilingual (Russian/English) keyword dictionaries, compound frame indices were constructed to show how frequently the themes of “modernization”, “control”, and others appear in news articles. The expectation was that state-aligned media frames AI as “modernization,” and independent outlets focus on “ethics” and “risks” more.

Our early analysis reveals a dominant trend across all news outlets:

• AI is overwhelmingly framed in terms of modernization, efficiency, and innovation, while the coverage of ethics, privacy, or transparency appears only rarely.
• Approximately 90% of articles contain no references to ethics, privacy, or transparency.
• Contrary to expectations, independent outlets do not provide more critical coverage: they publish fewer AI-related articles overall and do not engage more extensively with ethics, privacy, or transparency issues than state-aligned media.

These patterns suggest that AI functions as a narrative tool for reinforcing technological optimism in Kazakhstan, contributing to a public discourse centered on efficiency rather than accountability.

Learn more about our study by attending the Central Eurasian Studies Society Regional 2026 Conference, where we will be presenting (June 16-19).

Research team: Zarina Baidalinova, Symbat Maldybayeva, Amina Bayasheva