Too many roommates in Abu Dhabi? AI can spot it — and hit you with a Dh1 million fine

Abu Dhabi: Authorities in Abu Dhabi are combining traditional inspection methods with advanced technologies to monitor and combat residential overcrowding.

For the past few years, field inspection campaigns have been conducted across the city to identify and address overcrowding. Offenders face penalties of up to Dh1 million.

To strengthen these efforts, authorities have recently introduced an AI-powered engine that uses data analytics to assess apartment occupancy levels.

The AI engine, known as Fusion, is a smart mobility analytics framework connected to a massive data warehouse containing more than 70 billion rows of information. This intelligent platform utilises advanced data mining and machine learning techniques to generate visual insights that support urban planning and monitoring. In addition to tracking overcrowding, it can also analyse traffic congestion, accidents, and other urban dynamics, thereby enhancing residents’ quality of life.

Fusion provides real-time insights into population size, distribution, projected growth, and daily fluctuations. It reveals population density across various areas, changes in crowd patterns at different times of day, and movement in and out of the mainland. It also identifies hotspots and other key indicators.

With respect to residential land use, Fusion can estimate an apartment’s occupancy by analysing utility consumption. For instance, by monitoring water and electricity usage, the system can determine if a space intended for a couple is actually being used by multiple occupants. These data points offer a clear picture of potential overcrowding in residential properties.
The AI system pulls information from various sources, including smart metres and systems, to detect abnormal utility usage. Sudden spikes in water or electricity consumption may suggest overcrowding or illegal subletting.

Fusion also supports traffic monitoring by analysing patterns across different seasons, such as school holidays and academic terms, as well as during peak and off-peak hours on weekdays and weekends. The AI tool can pinpoint when and where traffic is unusually heavy, potentially signaling a surge in population density in specific areas. These measures aim to curb overcrowding, particularly in villas and apartments that breach occupancy regulations.

Residents are encouraged to comply with Tawtheeq, the official system for registering tenancy contracts. It plays a critical role in tracking the number of tenants per unit and ensuring compliance with occupancy limits.