World’s first Chief AI Officer: How Dubai puts people first in AI

Sol Rashidi, the world’s first Chief AI Officer, sees Dubai as the perfect canvas for AI-driven mobility.
“The automotive, transportation, and aerial space of AI is one of the most exciting because it touches every consumer,” Rashidi told Gulf News on the sidelines of the two-day Dubai World Congress and Challenge for Self-Driving Transport.
“But it’s also the most sensitive. Safety and risk mitigation aren’t glamorous, but they are the number one success factor when scaling these technologies.”

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Rashidi noted the rigorous process of evaluating ‘what-if’ scenarios – every possible point of failure – in autonomous vehicles and aerial transportation.
“If you have 200 use cases, every application has to go through the what-if scenarios. What if this goes wrong? What if this fails? The goal is that passengers never experience the friction of these risks. They only experience how we mitigated them.”

People-first approach

Rashidi noted Dubai’s approach to AI governance is what sets it apart from the rest.
“Dubai is one of the few spaces where AI happens with the people and not to the people. Other nations aren’t necessarily following that playbook.”
The journey from pilot projects to full-scale adoption is where Dubai’s strategy becomes critical. “Many can run pilots. The challenge is pivoting from pilot to production, and then to mass adoption. That’s where data management, governance, and security matter most. Most consumers don’t live in our world of AI, so the feeling of safety is the most important feeling.”
Dubai is already testing autonomous taxis in select areas, preparing for a future where AI-driven mobility is not just possible but trusted and embraced by residents and visitors alike. The city remains on track to begin commercial operations of driverless cars by the first quarter of 2026.