United Arab Emirates expands AI use in government services and consumer shopping

The United Arab Emirates announced a plan to embed "agentic" artificial intelligence into roughly half of its government services within two years. The new AI systems will be capable of analyzing data, making decisions and executing actions with minimal human input, aiming to speed up procedures such as application processing, workflow adjustments and licence issuance. A senior official has been appointed to oversee the rollout and a large training program will prepare civil servants to work alongside the technology, creating a hybrid administration where humans retain strategic oversight.

A separate market study found that 54% of UAE shoppers are comfortable allowing AI assistants to shop on their behalf. Consumers are most willing to let AI find the best prices, compare products and create shopping lists, with higher acceptance among men and high‑income earners. Privacy concerns remain a barrier, cited by the same proportion of respondents, while demand for “invisible” payments is strong, with 96% preferring payments that disappear into the background. Digital wallets are widely used, with two‑thirds of shoppers employing them at least monthly for purchases and money transfers.