Abu Dhabi To Train 23,000 Government Employees In AI By 2027

Abu Dhabi is set to train around 23,000 government employees in artificial intelligence by early 2027 through a new AI-native learning platform developed with OpenAI, Microsoft and Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI).

The platform was unveiled at the 'AI Everything Abu Dhabi' event on Wednesday as the emirate pushes ahead with its ambition to become the world's first AI-native government.

Faisal Al Hawi, Director of AI Factory at the Department of Government Enablement (DGE), said the programme 'AiNative' is designed to give government employees practical skills to use AI tools in their daily work, while understanding what information can safely be shared with them.

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“We worked with OpenAI to build a curriculum around ChatGPT, the secure version for government and then the open version for the public,” Al Hawi told Khaleej Times.

The three organisations are partners on the same platform rather than separate agreements, he said.

OpenAI is helping curate the curriculum around AI skills and tools, Microsoft is supporting training around Copilot, while MBZUAI is helping develop personalised one-to-one learning sessions.

The programme initially ran as a pilot involving several government entities but is now available across the Abu Dhabi Government, Al Hawi said.

The target is to train around 23,000 employees across Abu Dhabi by early 2027.

The platform will also eventually be opened to the public, with anyone holding a UAE Pass able to log in and use it, Al Hawi said.

The training is being designed around a practical problem facing government workers: the rapid pace at which AI tools are changing.

“AI is changing very fast, extremely fast, to the point that you might learn a tool today and then one month down the line there's a tool that is 10 times better,” he said.

The platform will therefore help employees identify which AI tools are appropriate for particular jobs, while taking account of security and relevance to government work.

For example, an HR employee could learn which tools could help with manpower planning, while a legal employee could be trained to use AI for tasks such as contract drafting.

Security is a key component of the programme, with employees being taught what types of government data can be entered into AI systems, what should not be shared and what must never be shared.

“In the context of government, employees should understand what kind of data can they provide these tools,” Al Hawi said.

The potential productivity gains could be significant, he added.

For a legal employee preparing a contract, AI could reduce a task that previously took a week to an hour or even a few minutes, allowing staff to spend more time on work requiring human judgement.

Al Hawi said he also uses AI agents to reduce the time spent preparing reports and presentations for senior leadership.

Faisal Al Hawi, Director of AI Factory at the Department of Government Enablement (DGE)

He said the remaining work involves applying human judgement to the output.

Al Hawi said the platform will begin with foundational AI training and executive-level learning before expanding into specialised programmes for functions including tax, procurement, legal and finance.

The wider push forms part of Abu Dhabi's strategy to become an AI-native government. The emirate has previously announced a goal of deploying more than 200 AI solutions across government and investing AED13 billion in its 2025-2027 digital strategy.

The government has also been rolling out Microsoft 365 Copilot across the public sector, with 26,000 civil servants across 27 government entities receiving licences in the first phase of the Frontier Employee Programme, taking the total number of licences to 35,000.

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