The United Arab Emirates has unveiled an ambitious plan to embed agentic artificial intelligence into the core of public administration, with officials saying that 50% of government sectors, services, and operations will run with the help of autonomous, action-oriented AI systems within two years. The announcement was made by UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who said the initiative is being carried out under the direction of President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The plan marks a significant escalation in the country’s AI agenda. Rather than treating artificial intelligence as a back-office support tool, the UAE is positioning it as an operational partner in government. According to Al Maktoum, AI is now capable of real-time analysis, decision-making, execution, and iterative improvement, making it suitable for a much deeper role in the delivery of public services and the management of state functions.
A Two-Year Deadline for Government Transformation
The initiative comes with a clear implementation window: two years. During that period, the UAE aims to transform half of its government apparatus so that agentic AI is actively involved in how services are delivered and how operations are managed. The stated objective is to improve service quality, accelerate decision-making, and raise administrative efficiency across the public sector.
Officials also indicated that the transition will not be measured solely by deployment numbers. The government intends to evaluate the rollout based on several factors, including system performance, the speed of adoption, implementation quality, and how effectively AI is used to redesign government work. That suggests the UAE is not simply layering automation on top of existing bureaucracy, but seeking a broader restructuring of public administration around AI capabilities.
Oversight of the transformation will be led by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, who is tasked with supervising the implementation of what has been described as a major shift toward a faster, more responsive, and more effective model of government.
Training Federal Employees Alongside AI Rollout
A central part of the plan involves workforce adaptation. Al Maktoum said that federal employees will be trained so they can “master the use of AI”. This is a notable component of the strategy, because it frames AI adoption not just as a technology procurement project, but as an institutional change program that requires civil servants to develop new skills.
That emphasis matters in practical terms. If AI systems are expected to participate in state operations, then public employees will need to understand how to supervise them, work alongside them, and apply them appropriately in administrative workflows. The UAE’s approach appears to recognize that large-scale AI integration in government depends as much on human capability and process redesign as it does on software performance.
At the same time, Al Maktoum stressed that the country’s core principle remains unchanged even as technology advances rapidly: people come first. The remark signals an effort to frame the initiative as citizen-centered modernization rather than technology-led disruption for its own sake.
Part of a Broader AI Governance Strategy
The latest announcement does not emerge in isolation. The UAE has already shown a willingness to move AI into sensitive areas of governance. In April 2025, Al Maktoum launched an AI-based legislative system designed to help draft laws, monitor their effects through data analysis, and propose legal amendments based on observed outcomes.
That earlier move indicated that the government was prepared to apply AI not only in routine administrative functions but also in policymaking and legal processes. The new initiative expands that trajectory, pushing agentic AI beyond legislative support and into the broader machinery of public service delivery and state operations.
Taken together, these developments suggest that the UAE is building a layered AI governance framework. One layer focuses on legislation and policy feedback; another is now being directed at service execution, operational management, and the redesign of institutional workflows. The government appears to be testing a model in which AI becomes embedded across multiple levels of state activity.
What the Announcement Signals
Although the statement did not provide technical details on which systems will be deployed first or how responsibilities will be distributed between human officials and AI agents, the scale of the target is noteworthy. A commitment to bring half of government activity under an agentic AI-enabled model within a fixed deadline places the UAE among the more aggressive public-sector adopters of advanced AI.
The announcement also reflects a broader shift in how AI is being discussed at the state level. Instead of focusing only on chatbots, analytics tools, or isolated automation functions, the UAE is explicitly referring to AI as an “execution partner.” That language implies a vision in which AI systems can take on more autonomous roles in carrying out government tasks, provided they are integrated into formal oversight and performance frameworks.
If implemented as described, the UAE’s program could become a closely watched example of how governments use agentic AI at scale. It may also inform global discussions about administrative efficiency, public-sector modernization, workforce retraining, and the boundaries of machine participation in governance.
For now, the core facts are clear: the UAE has set a two-year deadline, a 50% adoption target for government sectors, services, and operations, and a parallel training effort for federal workers. With political backing from the country’s top leadership and oversight assigned at the highest levels, the initiative represents one of the most explicit government commitments yet to integrate agentic AI into the everyday functioning of the state.