The UAE has launched a new initiative that will help develop legislation, infrastructure and various initiatives for accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) within the private sector.
Launched by the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence, in partnership with advisory firm EY, the initiative called “Think AI”, will see a series of roundtables, workshops and panel discussions between more than 100 government officials, representatives from the private sector and experts from local and international organisations.
Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence highlighted that global governments realize the importance of deploying artificial intelligence and its positive implications towards revolutionizing government services as well as its effects towards enhancing key strategic sectors that will ultimately reinforce its position on the global map.
In line with the growth of the artificial intelligence industry, with value estimated to reach $300 billion by the year 2026, and an industry growth of 38.8 percent in the next seven years; Al Olama noted that the UAE aims to be one of the most advanced countries in the adoption and deployment such technology, realizing its positive revolutionary change.
Think AI also seeks to strengthen the country’s position as a global hub for artificial intelligence.
Wasim Khan, MENA Advisory Leader, EY, said, “EY is very proud to be working with Omar Sultan Al Olama, the Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence to accelerate the adoption of AI across the UAE and further benefit the region. A.I is amongst the most transformative technology of our time with rapid developments across machine learning, data mining, and cognitive computing. Harnessing the power of AI will be a game-changer for both governments and businesses alike.
EY will co-host the A.I roundtables with the Government Accelerators with the objective of identifying mechanisms for government, private sector, and tech startups to seamlessly collaborate around the AI agenda.
“We will explore these concepts using our leading hedge innovation hub – Wavespace – in order to facilitate the rapid development of differentiating prototypes towards achieving the objectives of the UAE Centennial 2071 Plan. We are excited to be part of this journey,” said Khan.
The first roundtable will focus on developing national talents and attracting talented artificial intelligence experts, to reach new solutions and ideas in collaboration with technology educators, curriculum designers, consumers of AI talents and education pioneers.
The second roundtable will discuss the mechanism of infrastructure development and availability that supports the adoption of artificial intelligence in the UAE and provides the tools necessary to benefit from 4IR solutions providers, data architects, AI thought leaders and technology analysts.
The third roundtable highlights how to improve trustability and acceptance of AI, as well as speared awareness of its uses. It also looks into how to regulate and design policies for such technology across vital sectors in collaboration with regulation and policy makers.
The fourth roundtable looks into what could a best-in-class AI infrastructure looks like. It focuses on preparing the appropriate infrastructure for the development of artificial intelligence applications and practices in partnership with start-ups, business incubators and accelerators using the expertise of technology pioneers, end-users, groups and educational institutions.
The fifth roundtable discusses the plans to develop and issue UAE national standards for artificial intelligence technology, which defines the most important uses and functions in cooperation with specialists, government, private sector and the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology.
