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Abu Dhabi is building the talent pipeline for the world’s first fully AI native government

Since appointing the world’s first Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence in 2017, the UAE has accelerated AI integration across sectors including healthcare, transportation, space, energy, and education, with studies showing that AI could contribute up to 13.6% of the country’s GDP by 2030.

Central to that vision is the development of both digital infrastructure and AI talent

With ambitions to become the world’s first fully AI-native government by 2027, Abu Dhabi is building the foundations from the inside out, including through collaborations with the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), established as the world’s first university dedicated entirely to research in AI.

48%

Increase in AI hiring in the UAE in 2025

Education for an AI age

The UAE led global AI hiring growth with a 48% increase in 2025, reflecting the country's growing investment in AI and the digital economy. At the same time, global demand for AI talent is outstripping supply, with ManpowerGroup's 2025 Talent Shortage Survey finding that, for the first time, AI skills overtook traditional engineering and IT capabilities as the world's most in-demand skill facing a talent shortage.

The growing demand for AI talent is reshaping higher education. Institutions like MBZUAI are building a stronger domestic AI talent pipeline in Abu Dhabi through research across PhD and graduate programs – covering areas that will have an enormous impact on healthcare, energy, manufacturing, agriculture, and climate sectors.

Reflecting the UAE's national strategies, including the AI Strategy 2031, research institutions are increasingly positioned as active participants in the economy, not just suppliers of talent. In response, the university has developed programs that bridge the transition between academic knowledge and real-world application.

Building the pipeline

In a major step toward building a more comprehensive AI education pipeline in the region, MBZUAI launched its Master of Applied AI, the first program of its kind in the UAE. Designed for working professionals, the two-year degree pairs academic foundations with hands-on projects and industry experience, equipping graduates to develop, deploy, and lead AI solutions inside their own organizations. MBZUAI also welcomed its first ever cohort through the Mohammed bin Rashid Government Scholarships. This includes Emirati government employees who will lead AI adoption across their entities in line with the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031.

In 2025, over 95% of Abu Dhabi public sector employees completed AI training. MBZUAI is committed to expanding these learning opportunities. Through The Academy, the university’s executive education arm, it has trained more than 10,000 professionals and delivered over 130 upskilling initiatives to government and industry leaders. The Academy’s Global AI Leadership Program equips senior leaders from the public and private sectors with the tools they need to deliver organizational AI integration and transformation.

95%

Abu Dhabi public sector employees who completed AI training in 2025

A future-ready ecosystem

MBZUAI is helping narrow the gap between academia and industry through its Incubation and Entrepreneurship Center, which has, so far, produced 17 AI startups, while giving students opportunities to pitch ventures at Hub71, the Abu Dhabi tech startup platform.

In May 2026, the UAE Cabinet approved its largest government training program – an effort to develop more than 80,000 federal employees into Agentic AI experts. As part of this initiative, MBZUAI was named a strategic knowledge partner to the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources, bringing its research and applied expertise to a program that spans every employment level and focuses on hands-on work in real government settings.

+1.03M

Additional workers the UAE needs by 2030 to support its digital and AI growth
The UAE is projected to require about 1.03 million additional workers by 2030 as it accelerates digital transformation and AI adoption, according to the Workforce Skills Forecast 2025. In Abu Dhabi, institutions like MBZUAI are helping build that pipeline through world-class research, education, industry partnerships, and innovation initiatives, where the talent powering tomorrow’s AI economy is already being developed today.
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