UAE AI NEWS
Stories
Every UAE AI event, once. Each story gathers every outlet that covered it, summarised in plain words with the original links underneath.
Dubai AI Festival opens on 26 October, focused on putting AI to work
Dubai AI Festival runs on 26 and 27 October 2026 at Dubai World Trade Centre, six months after its original April dates. In its 20 October announcement, DIFC said the third edition expects more than 150 speakers, 500 investors and 200 exhibitors. The programme focuses on moving AI from experiments into everyday work. Coverage so far is the organiser’s release and event guides; independent reporting should follow once it opens.
Lovable and Nebius join Dubai’s business AI training push
Announced 19 October, Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy’s partnerships cover AI leadership, agentic AI training, workshops, and support for founders. The wider program targets 14,000 member companies. Lovable will also provide championship participants with platform credits funded by Dubai Chambers.
Abu Dhabi says AI frees 280,000 government work hours a year for complex cases
Abu Dhabi’s Department of Government Enablement (DGE) says AI now lets government staff move around 280,000 working hours a year from routine processing to cases that need human judgement, Khaleej Times reported on 13 October 2026. The figures were shared at a media briefing for HR Tech Abu Dhabi. The emirate says its focus is shifting from training staff in AI to measuring how their work changes.
Dubai Chambers is training 14,000 member companies to use agentic AI
Dubai Chambers launched agentic AI training tracks for more than 14,000 member companies on 1 September 2026, delivered through its new online Dubai Chambers Academy. Agentic AI means systems that carry out tasks, not only answer questions. In October, business leaders quoted in coverage on Zawya said the programme helps companies move from reading data to acting on it faster.
UAE still leads Microsoft’s AI adoption ranking, now at 73.3%
Several outlets reported in October 2026 that the UAE leads the world in AI adoption at 70.1%. That’s Microsoft’s figure for the first quarter of 2026. Microsoft’s newer report, published on 21 September, puts the UAE at 73.3% of its working-age population in the second quarter, still first in the world. Both numbers measure how many people have used a generative AI tool, not how deeply they use it.
Alef Education shows an AI grading tool for teachers at Ai Everything Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi edtech company Alef Education presented AI Auto Grading, a tool that helps teachers grade students’ work, at Ai Everything Abu Dhabi on 6 and 7 October 2026. The company says the aim is to cut teachers’ admin time so they can spend more of it with students who need help. The coverage comes from Alef’s announcements and a Gulf News report; no results from classroom use were published.
Abu Dhabi launches AiNative, AI training for every government employee and the public
Abu Dhabi’s Department of Government Enablement launched AiNative on 7 October 2026 at Ai Everything Abu Dhabi. It’s an AI training programme built with OpenAI, Microsoft and MBZUAI for all government employees and the wider public. WAM reported a target of 20,000 employees by the end of 2026, while Khaleej Times reported about 23,000 by early 2027.
Dubai launches a global AI agents championship with more than AED 2.5 million in prizes
On 7 October 2026, Sheikh Hamdan launched the Create AI Agents Championship, which replaces Dubai’s Create Apps Championship. Individuals, teams and companies anywhere can enter an AI agent idea, prototype or early product in one of four categories. Each category winner receives AED 550,000, and the overall winner AED 1 million.
AWS and UAE AI Office report finds 72% of UAE businesses now use AI
A report by AWS and the UAE Artificial Intelligence Office, released on 30 September 2026, found that 72% of UAE businesses have adopted AI, up from 53% a year earlier. Only 31% of those adopters use what the report calls advanced AI. Research firm Strand Partners carried out the study for AWS, which sells AI and cloud services.
DEWA moves 16 of its 21 services to agentic AI in under 90 days
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) said on 29 September 2026 that it had moved 16 of its 21 services, 76%, to agentic AI in less than 90 days. Its daily payment reconciliation now takes 12 minutes instead of about four hours, and supply activation takes two minutes instead of eight. The figures come from DEWA.
At Ai Everything Abu Dhabi, the capital showed how it is redesigning government work around AI
Ai Everything Abu Dhabi ran on 6 and 7 October 2026 at ADNEC Centre, hosted by the Department of Government Enablement (DGE). Officials used it to show progress towards an AI-native government by 2027, with more than 100 AI use cases live across public services, according to Gulf News. Khaleej Times reported the clearest message: AI should change how work is designed, while people stay responsible for decisions.
UAE university students can get Google AI Plus free for a year
The UAE Artificial Intelligence Office and Google announced on 3 September 2026 that university students in the UAE aged 18 and over can use Google AI Plus free for one year. The plan includes the Gemini app and Gemini Notebook, a tool for studying from your own materials. Students must sign up by 31 December 2026.
Dubai adopts one AI-assisted system to measure productivity across 32 government entities
Dubai’s Government Human Resources Department said on 23 August 2026 that a single Workforce Productivity Measurement System now covers 32 government entities. It uses data analytics and AI to compare each entity’s staff and budget with the services it delivers. Some coverage described it as monitoring employee efficiency, but the official description measures resources against outputs at the level of the entity.
UAE launches its first four government AI agents, from procurement to tax audits
At a national retreat in Abu Dhabi on 20 May 2026, the UAE government launched its first four agentic AI agents. They cover procurement, tax auditing, customer happiness and technical support. More than 400 ministers and federal officials attended. It’s the first working step in the plan to move half of federal government to agentic AI within two years.
UAE Cabinet approves agentic AI roles and training for 80,000 federal employees
On 18 May 2026, the UAE Cabinet set out how ministries will deliver the plan to run half of federal government on agentic AI. It defined each ministry’s role, approved the first services to move, and launched a programme to train 80,000 federal employees, from ministers to new joiners. Sheikh Mohammed called it the largest training programme in the UAE government’s history.
Dubai gives its private sector two years to adopt agentic AI
On 4 May 2026, Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed launched a two-year programme to move Dubai’s private sector to agentic AI. Dubai Chambers was directed to run training for business councils, set up incubators for agentic AI companies and create dedicated funds. In June, Sheikh Hamdan reviewed a roadmap covering 295,000 companies. By September, no amounts had been attached to the incubators or funds.
UAE plans to run half of federal government on agentic AI within two years
On 23 April 2026, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid announced a framework to move 50% of UAE federal government sectors, services and operations to agentic AI within two years. Agentic AI is AI that can plan and carry out tasks on its own. The plan redesigns government processes around AI and includes AI training for every federal employee.
DIFC plans to become an AI-native financial centre, targeting 25,000 jobs
The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) announced on 21 April 2026 that it will build AI into its laws, business services, training, infrastructure and buildings, and called the result the world’s first AI-native financial centre. It says the programme will bring US$3.5 billion (AED 12.9 billion) in economic value and 25,000 jobs. Those are DIFC’s own projections.
Digital Dubai launches AI+ to train 50,000 government employees
Digital Dubai launched the AI Workforce Transformation Programme (AI+) on 15 April 2026 to train 50,000 Dubai Government employees in AI. It runs with the Dubai Government Human Resources Department and the Dubai Centre for AI. It has training tracks for different job categories and a dedicated track for Chief AI Officers.
