ABU DHABI, UAE / MENA Newswire / — The UAE’s digital development has moved from early government computerization in the 1980s to an AI-powered infrastructure agenda built around cloud platforms, automated public services, data governance, advanced chips, and national artificial intelligence research. The shift reflects four decades of public sector digitization, beginning with the establishment of the Public Information Authority in 1982 to introduce computers into federal government work and automate government processes.
The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority has documented milestones that followed that first phase, including federal digital platforms, paperless services, UAE Pass, government service integration, digital identity, and secure networks linking public entities. Those systems formed the backbone for online government transactions and created the operating base for later cloud, data, and artificial intelligence services across federal and local administrations.
The national policy framework expanded in 2019 with the Cabinet’s adoption of the UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031, which set the goal of making the country a global AI leader by 2031. The strategy focuses on priority sectors, talent, research capacity, governance, and digital infrastructure, placing AI within government services, education, healthcare, transport, energy, space, and other sectors connected to the country’s long term economic agenda.
AI moves into government systems
Abu Dhabi’s Government Digital Strategy 2025 to 2027 marks one of the clearest examples of the UAE’s move from digitized services to AI-native administration. The Department of Government Enablement said the program will deploy AED13 billion to support AI adoption, sovereign cloud use, cybersecurity, data systems, and full digitization of government operations. The plan includes 100 percent sovereign cloud adoption and more than 200 AI solutions across government services.
The country has also built research and education institutions to support its AI ecosystem. Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence was launched in Abu Dhabi as a graduate level, research focused AI university, while the Ministry of Education has introduced AI as a subject in public schools from kindergarten through Grade 12 starting in the 2025 to 2026 academic year. The curriculum covers core concepts, data, algorithms, ethics, applications, innovation, and community impact.
Infrastructure expands for AI scale
The UAE’s AI infrastructure has grown through local model development and international technology partnerships. Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute released Falcon 40B in 2023 as the UAE’s first large-scale open source AI model for research and commercial use, followed by later Falcon models, including Falcon 2 and Falcon 3. G42 and Microsoft announced a $1.5 billion investment partnership in 2024 covering AI development, cloud infrastructure, and broader digital services.
In 2025, G42, OpenAI, Oracle, NVIDIA, SoftBank Group, and Cisco announced Stargate UAE, an AI infrastructure cluster planned for the 5 gigawatt UAE-U.S. AI Campus in Abu Dhabi. The first phase is designed as a 1 gigawatt cluster, with initial 200 megawatts of capacity expected to begin operations in 2026. Together, the projects show how the UAE’s digital base has advanced from early government computing to sovereign cloud, AI models, automated services, and large-scale AI data infrastructure.