Dubai: All companies need to embrace AI, says minister Al Olama at Dubai AI Week

Dubai: Moving forward, all businesses must integrate artificial intelligence (AI) at the core of their operations to remain competitive in an ever-evolving digital landscape, a top minister said on the opening day of the inaugural Dubai AI Week.
“Every single company that’s going to be in our digital economy, moving forward, needs to be an AI-first company,” Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, and Deputy Managing Director of Dubai Future Foundation, said in his welcome address of the AI Retreat at the Museum of the Future.
The week-long event, taking place through April 25, is held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Dubai Future Foundation (DFF). Ahead of the event, Sheikh Hamdan reaffirmed that AI will serve as the foundation of Dubai’s future.

325 companies apply for AI seal
As many as 325 companies have applied for the AI seal – an initiative to establish a network of trusted firms that government entities and businesses can rely on for secure and responsible AI solutions.
“You can actually go to them and see whether they do their R&D in the UAE. If they are actually an AI company or not. We have to classify exactly how many companies are doing the best-in-the-class artificial intelligence, and how many companies are repurposing certain models that are open source and that are out there.”

230 Chief AI Officers
The minister revealed that more than 230 Chief AI Officers have been appointed across various government entities in Dubai, who are spearheading specialised plans and programmes in the field of AI and advanced technology. Also, as many as 17 AI-focused data centres have been launched.
“Over the last year, there were many initiatives, 26 other initiatives that happened over the course of the last year that also fed into this,” he said, noting about opening of registrations for the ‘One Million Prompters’, an initiative aimed at training a million individuals in the emerging field of AI prompt engineering.

Focus on AI adoption
Al Olama underlined that every single government department will be assessed, ranked and classified based on the effectiveness and impact of its AI adoption.
“It doesn’t mean that we’re going to leverage AI just for the sake of AI, but we want to ensure that that AI application and use case actually improves the quality of life of citizens in the UAE and in Dubai specifically.”
He underlined the importance of collaboration between the government and private sector in advancing AI. “We don't claim to be able to build the best tools ourselves. We do claim to be the best business-friendly city in the world, and we know that we can work with the best of the brightest to be able to ensure that Dubai is the place where artificial intelligence is deployed and where the benefits are reaped,” the minister said as the AI Retreat brought together 150 government officials and global AI experts.

“I urge you to dream big, to think of the future in the next year, not in the next five years, and to work together to achieve that vision.”