Abu Dhabi has launched an AI training programme aimed at equipping 20,000 government employees with AI skills by the end of 2026. The initiative follows the government’s deployment of Microsoft 365 Copilot across public-sector agencies earlier this year.
The programme, called AiNative, was announced by Abu Dhabi’s Department of Government Enablement (DGE) on October 7 at the Ai Everything Abu Dhabi event. Developed with OpenAI, Microsoft, and Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), it provides training in the use of AI tools for government operations.
AiNative forms part of Abu Dhabi’s AED 13 billion ($3.5 billion) Digital Strategy 2025–2027, which covers AI adoption, digital infrastructure, cloud computing, and government workforce development.
Building AI skills across government
AiNative offers foundational AI training and a separate programme for senior government officials. The curriculum covers ChatGPT, Codex, and Microsoft 365 Copilot, with specialised courses planned for employees working in taxation, procurement, legal matters, and finance.
DGE owns the curriculum, which was developed in collaboration with OpenAI, Microsoft, and MBZUAI. OpenAI contributes AI training materials, Microsoft supports training on Copilot, and MBZUAI is involved in developing personalised learning sessions.
“AI will only create lasting value when people have the knowledge and confidence to use it well,” Wesam Lootah, Director General of GovDigital at DGE, said in the department’s announcement.
AiNative began with a pilot involving several government entities. Faisal Al Hawi, director of AI Factory at DGE, told Khaleej Times that the programme is now available across the Abu Dhabi Government, with public access planned for a later phase.
Al Hawi explained that the training is tailored to employees’ responsibilities. Human resources teams, for example, can learn how AI tools support workforce planning, while legal teams can explore applications such as contract drafting.
Al Hawi said he uses AI agents to prepare reports and presentations for senior officials, estimating that they complete around 80–90% of the initial work before he reviews the results.
Later phases of AiNative will introduce specialised certifications covering coding and data-related functions. The programme will also train employees to select AI tools suited to their work and follow government information security requirements.
DGE’s official announcement sets a target of training 20,000 employees by the end of 2026. Al Hawi separately told Khaleej Times that the department aims to train approximately 23,000 employees by early 2027.
AiNative will also offer public training through Tomouh, DGE’s digital learning application. Citizens and residents will be able to access courses using UAE Pass, covering applications such as personal finance management, job searching, studying, and small business operations.
DGE said public access will be introduced in phases, although it has not announced a date for general availability. The curriculum is also designed to accommodate additional technology partners.
Managing data security and AI governance
Data handling is another component of AiNative’s training. Al Hawi told Khaleej Times that employees will learn which types of government information can be entered into AI systems, which require restrictions, and which must not be shared.
The training follows Abu Dhabi’s July rollout of Microsoft 365 Copilot through its Frontier Employee Programme. According to DGE, the government provided licences to 26,000 civil servants across 27 entities, bringing the total to 35,000 when combined with 9,000 existing licences.
DGE said all Copilot licences were provisioned with Microsoft’s Advanced Data Residency arrangement, which the department said keeps AI processing within the UAE.
The rollout included an AI Adoption and Enablement framework covering employee training, change management, and responsible AI use. It was also supported by security, data governance, and organisational readiness assessments intended to ensure compliance with government data protection requirements.
Abu Dhabi also operates a central Government Security Operations Centre (GSOC) using Microsoft Sentinel and Defender XDR for security monitoring and threat response. DGE said the centre supports approximately 60,000 users and tens of thousands of workloads across government systems.
Separately, Abu Dhabi has established Chief Data and AI Officer positions across government entities to oversee AI adoption, governance, and related initiatives within individual departments.
The government’s data infrastructure plans include a sovereign cloud environment developed through an agreement signed by DGE, Microsoft, and Core42 in March 2025. According to DGE, the planned system will support more than 11 million daily digital interactions between government agencies, citizens, residents, and businesses.
Expanding AI across government operations
Abu Dhabi’s Digital Strategy 2025–2027 sets targets to automate government processes, deploy more than 200 AI-powered solutions, and expand sovereign cloud infrastructure across public administration.
DGE is also establishing an AI Factory capability, with plans to develop more than 1,000 AI agents for government applications. The proposed uses include document processing, responses to public inquiries, and policy analysis.
The government has already introduced AI applications across several departments. In February 2026, DGE reported more than 100 operational AI use cases and a pipeline of more than 200 additional applications under development or planned for deployment.
DGE is working with Inception on applications for procurement and human capital management. The partnership includes plans to automate supplier registration and support contract analysis, while the government’s Mawaheb talent platform uses hiring and retention data to refine candidate matching.
Workforce development has also featured in Abu Dhabi’s earlier AI initiatives. In September 2025, the government reported that more than 95% of its workforce of over 30,000 employees had completed AI training, separate from the newly launched AiNative programme.
The Digital Strategy also includes plans for a unified enterprise resource planning platform to support internal government operations and data management, alongside requirements covering cybersecurity and digital governance.
(Photo by Nguyen Dang Hoang Nhu)
See also: Council of Europe and Microsoft sign AI cooperation agreement
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