UAE Moves to Automate Half of Government Services with AI Agents

Citizens across the United Arab Emirates will soon interact with artificial intelligence agents handling routine government transactions, as the country pursues a plan to convert half of all government operations to agentic AI within two years. The shift promises to reshape how the public accesses services, eliminating repetitive paperwork and the need to repeatedly provide personal information to different agencies.

The UAE’s national committee for agentic AI released a design guide during a workshop attended by more than 100 government officials, establishing unified principles for how AI assistants should interact with the public. The guide reflects a fundamental reimagining of the citizen-government relationship. Rather than individuals navigating multiple agencies and forms, an AI agent would accept a simple statement of need and then coordinate directly with relevant authorities to complete the entire transaction.

Additional reference context is available at https://www.globalgovernmentforum.com/uae-publishes-design-guide-for-agentic-ai-powered-public-services-as-part-of-drive-to-automate-half-of-government/.

Mohammed Rashid bin Talia, assistant minister of cabinet affairs for government knowledge exchange and head of the government services track in the artificial assistive intelligence project, described the guide as a milestone in shifting administrative burden away from individuals. Reporting by Khaleej Times quotes him explaining that AI assistants would enable people to simply state what they needed before the agent would take the necessary steps to coordinate with relevant authorities and complete the transaction on their behalf. The approach is designed to free users from traditional processes involving repeated requests for personal information and time-consuming documentation.

The unified guide establishes core principles intended to protect citizens throughout their interactions with AI-powered services. The framework prohibits AI agents from asking users to provide information they had already supplied previously and requires that people be kept informed at every step of their service journey. Privacy and security protections form a cornerstone of the design approach. The guide also acknowledges that some situations will require human involvement, operating under the principle that “human leads, AI enables.” This recognition that AI should augment rather than entirely replace human judgment reflects concern for maintaining accountability and ensuring complex or sensitive matters receive appropriate oversight.

The broader automation initiative focuses on embedding AI capabilities into federal operations across seven key pillars: strategy and projects, foresight and strategic intelligence, policies, structures and governance, government performance, global competitiveness, and innovation in government work. The plan aims to improve policy formulation, future foresight, and decision-making across the government apparatus.

Meanwhile, the UAE has invested in institutional infrastructure to support this transformation. In June of this year, the government established an AI and data authority designed to consolidate public data, AI and other digital government capabilities into a single national body. This new authority merges the Office of Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications and the UAE Data Office, incorporating the country’s digital government portfolio. Its core function will be to set standards and guidelines for data and AI management, digital transformation and government services to firm up compliance across federal bodies, build national capabilities in AI and digital transformation through research, development and technical advisory services, and work to increase the digital economy’s contribution to the country’s GDP.

The government has also moved to establish guardrails around AI use in sensitive contexts. Last year, the UAE became among the first nations to regulate AI in national elections, requiring candidates in Federal National Council elections to declare and register their use of AI tools in campaigns. Under the National Elections Committee Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence, AI used in election campaigns must be “declared, reviewed, and monitored” to preserve fair and transparent election processes. Omar Sultan Al Olama, the minister of state for AI, warned that while AI could help candidates reach broader audiences, it carried the risk of being “misused to influence voters unfairly.”

The UAE’s dual approach of expanding AI automation while establishing regulatory safeguards reflects an effort to harness the efficiency gains of artificial intelligence while maintaining public trust and protecting citizens from potential harms. More details on the government’s approach to agentic AI design are available at www.globalgovernmentforum.com/uae-publishes-design-guide-for-agentic-ai-powered-public-services-as-part-of-drive-to-automate-half-of-government/

Whether the two-year timeline holds, and whether the protections built into the design guide prove sufficient as AI agents take on a growing share of public services, remains the question citizens will be watching most closely.