UAE AI minister opens AI Retreat with a call for “frictionless AI” and for every new company in the country to be “AI-first”.
Dubai — The UAE is laser-focused on accelerating the development and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) over the next decade, rather than getting caught in the debate of regulation versus innovation, His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, said today.
Delivering the opening keynote at the Dubai AI Retreat, titled ‘The Next 5-10 Years – A Force Multiplier of a Nation’s Potential’, His Excellency told a room of AI experts and leaders about the UAE’s ethos on AI.
The AI Retreat takes place on Monday at the Museum of the Future as part of Dubai AI Week. The retreat witnessed the participation of over 150 government officials and global experts, and included four closed roundtable discussions focused on data and governance, digital infrastructure, economy and investment, and talent development. Participants discussed key relevant policies and legislation, explored the opportunities provided by AI applications, and outlined strategies to amplify their positive developmental impact across vital sectors.
“Every single conversation about AI that takes place across the world today talks about two paradigms: innovation and regulation … There is another paradigm that most people don’t talk about, but that we in the UAE have adopted as our ethos when it comes to pushing this technology forward. And that is: acceleration.”
He continued: “We believe that we should not compromise regulation for the sake of innovation, but we should focus on accelerating the use of this technology in the best way possible.”
Al Olama also described how AI can best be deployed to improve lives. “This is the AI that we want in the UAE, and that is the AI that we think is done right; It is AI that is frictionless,” Al Olma noted.
HE also said the most successful businesses in the UAE were those that embrace emerging technologies: “Every single unicorn that has come out of the UAE is an AI-first company. And every single company that is going to be launched in this country going forward needs to be an AI-first company.
Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai AI Week runs from 21 to 25 April 2025, and is expected to attract renowned global experts, policymakers, innovators, and industry leaders representing the world’s leading organisations and companies specialising in AI.
Key events of the week include the AI Retreat, Dubai Assembly for AI, Global Prompt Engineering Championship, Dubai AI Festival, Machines Can See summit, AI Week in Schools, 8th edition of the International Conference on Education Quality, HIMSS Executive Summit Dubai, and Hackathon: Agentic AI.
