Dubai on Monday unveiled a two-year action plan to harness advanced artificial intelligence in the emirate's private sector in an effort to secure a “competitive edge” in the global workplace of the future.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, said training programmes would be rolled out to support businesses in adopting cutting-edge AI agents.
Sheikh Hamdan said the initiative – being introduced under the directives of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai – aimed to ensure the city's economy was best positioned globally to embrace emerging technologies.
“Our goal is for Dubai to become the world’s leading city in adopting these technologies economically and commercially – giving us a new competitive edge for the future,” he said.
Agentic AI is an autonomous model of AI capable of making decisions and achieving specific goals with limited supervision.
How will Dubai's AI drive work?
The AI transformation programme will span two years and will include specialised training tracks for all business councils affiliated with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Sheikh Hamdan said the chamber had been directed to establish incubators for Agentic AI companies to support the high-tech transition and create further economic opportunities for young people in the field.
“Our objective is to empower our companies to adopt these technologies that will boost productivity, expand business volumes, and reshape the city – making its economy the best in the world in adopting Agentic AI technologies,” Sheikh Hamdan added.
“Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid is today leading a comprehensive movement to reshape Dubai into the world’s most future-ready city – technologically, economically, in infrastructure and with facilities that elevate quality of life to standards no one has reached before.”
Evolving government landscape
The Dubai programme is in line with a wider government vision to champion the use of AI to boost efficiency and productivity and raise standards of public services. In April, Sheikh Mohammed set out plans for half of all government services to be delivered using AI agents within two years.
The plan was announced by the Ruler of Dubai, on the directives of President Sheikh Mohamed, following a meeting of the UAE Cabinet. He said the strategy would make the UAE the first government in the world to operate at such a large scale through autonomous systems.
“AI is no longer a tool. It analyses, decides, executes and improves in real time. It will become our executive partner to enhance services, accelerate decisions and raise efficiency,” Sheikh Mohammed wrote on X at the time.
The AI agents will be used to redesign government policies, processes and procedures and will enable smart systems to perform tasks proactively to reduce operational costs and boost productivity and efficiency.
There will be a phased introduction of the scheme in ministries and federal departments, based on continuous performance and impact assessments.
