UAE Trains 80,000 Government Workers as AI Super Users at Abu Dhabi Summit

The United Arab Emirates is training approximately 80,000 government employees to become AI "super users" capable of building agents and leveraging artificial intelligence models, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence Omar Sultan Al Olama told CNBC at the Ai Everything Abu Dhabi summit.

Speaking during a session titled "Building the Government of the Future: Data, Agentic AI and a Shifting Global Order," Al Olama stated that the aggressive training campaign aims to ensure public sector workers understand, utilise, and benefit from emerging AI technology.

Ahmed Tamim Hisham Al Kuttab, chairman of Abu Dhabi's Department of Government Enablement, opened the summit by reiterating the emirate's target of becoming the world's first AI-native government by 2027, emphasising the demand for compute capacity, capital, and early adopters.

The two-day summit at the ADNEC Centre drew more than 400 exhibitors, over 180 speakers, and more than 200 investors managing $100 billion in assets, attracting attendees from over 70 countries. Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch highlighted growing global demand for alternatives to US and Chinese AI suppliers, pointing out that approximately 55% of the world economy sits outside both countries.

On the exhibition floor, AI infrastructure formed a central focus. Chinese digital infrastructure vendor H3C showcased end-to-end AI systems, with H3C MENA General Manager Hongtao Liu stating that regional organisations are transitioning from AI experimentation to production-scale deployment.