UAE to run half of its government on Agentic AI within two years

The UAE will shift 50 percent of its federal government services and operations to Agentic AI systems within two years, in what officials say is the first rollout of autonomous AI at a national scale.

The framework was approved at a UAE Cabinet meeting chaired by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai, on directives from President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

"Under the directives of the President of the UAE, we launch a new government model. Within two years, 50% of government sectors, services, and operations will run on Agentic AI, making the UAE the first government globally to operate at this scale through autonomous systems," Sheikh Mohammed said.

He added that "AI models can today monitor variables, provide analyses, raise recommendations, manage operations, and execute an independent chain of actions without human interventions," and that "AI will be our government executive partner in supporting decisions, improving services, enhancing operational efficiency, and even evaluating results and making improvements in real time."

The transformation will touch policymaking, internal operations, and front-line public services, with humans moving into oversight roles as autonomous systems take over day-to-day execution. Existing workflows and policies are being redesigned around what the new systems can do, rather than layered on top of legacy processes.

Federal employees will receive continuous AI training, and fluency with the tools will become a formal performance criterion for ministers and senior officials. The government expects the shift to lower operational costs and speed up service delivery across departments.

If the two-year target is met, the UAE will be the first country to run a significant share of its public sector on autonomous AI as a matter of official policy.