At the Dubai-USA Business Forum at Cipriani in Lower Manhattan, Dubai used New York as a stage to define the next stage of economic growth, with artificial intelligence emerging as a central organizing force. More than 700 American executives, investors and policymakers gathered alongside the largest foreign delegation Dubai has ever sent to the United States. While discussions have ranged from capital markets, geopolitics and global growth, artificial intelligence has emerged time and again as a key pillar of Dubai’s next phase of expansion.
Speaking at the forum, Saeed Al Gergawi, Vice President of Dubai Chamber of the Digital Economydescribed how the emirate views artificial intelligence within the arc of its broader economic transformation.
“We look at AI as the next oil,” he said. “Dubai’s oil production peaked in the 1990s, and today oil production is less than one percent of GDP. We see AI as the next enabler, not only economically, but also in our ability to test and deploy the latest technologies.”
This view determines where Dubai puts capital and how it builds infrastructure. Low energy costs have made the city increasingly attractive for data centres, a trend already reinforced by large-scale investments from global companies. “The cost of energy is very low,” Al-Gergawi said. “This makes data centers more feasible in Dubai compared to many other parts of the world.”
However, he stressed that infrastructure is only one part of the strategy. Dubai’s leadership puts AI first and foremost as a tool to improve how the city operates day-to-day. “Dubai places a lot of emphasis on quality of life,” he said. “There is a mandate for government agencies to provide the best services to anyone they interact with. This is how we look at AI as service improvement.”
Every government entity in Dubai now has a chief AI officer responsible for implementation and oversight. According to Al-Gergawi, accountability is an essential element of this structure. “They are responsible for adopting AI, while at the same time making sure that they are using the right kind of AI in the most ethical way possible,” he said.
Dubai’s approach to testing new technologies is unusually tolerant by global standards. Al-Gergawi pointed to a cultural and organizational readiness for the experiment. “When you look at the tendency to say yes when it comes to testing technologies, this is where Dubai has the advantage,” he said. “As long as it’s a technology we can test, we want to test it.”
The government is leading many of these experiments in partnership with the private sector. “A lot of the testing of these technologies is actually being done by the government,” he said. “This may seem counterintuitive, but it allows solutions to be deployed quickly and at scale.”
Talent is another recurring theme in Dubai’s AI strategy. The city’s workforce comes from dozens of nationalities, often from the same company, with few geopolitical constraints. “Dubai is one of the few places where geopolitics does not play a big role in recruiting talent,” Al Gergawi said. “Companies can hire the right people when it makes business sense.”
These employment decisions are augmented by long-term residency options, including golden visas for scholars, entrepreneurs and investors, along with broader quality of life considerations. Al-Gergawi described it as a comprehensive offer. “Housing, education, health care and family-friendly options,” he said. “All of this creates an easy decision for people who want to live and work in the city.”
On the issue of ethics, Dubai has chosen a deliberately narrow framework. “We keep it very simple,” Al Gergawi said. “If an AI application has a controversial or negative impact on quality of life, we do not use it. If it improves services and quality of life, we use it.”
This philosophy has guided policy since the UAE launched its National AI Strategy in 2017. “From day one, we have been clear,” he said. “We focus on AI that improves quality of life rather than AI per se.”
Dubai’s policy framework is designed to evolve rapidly. The Dubai AI Blueprint is updated annually through consultations between government leaders, investors and AI entrepreneurs. “Every year, all heads of government and key stakeholders in the field of artificial intelligence come together to discuss what is changing,” Al Gergawi said. “This becomes the chart for that year, and is updated annually.”
The UAE has already translated this strategy into tangible outcomes. The country has developed some of the largest large-scale linguistic models of Arabic, along with newer models such as K2. “All of these models are open source,” Al-Gergawi said. “It’s available for people all over the world to use.” He noted that many of them are among the most widely adopted models in the world, according to Hugging Face.
For companies with Dubai as their base, the business case is deliberately straightforward. “From a tax perspective, it’s simple,” Al Gergawi said. “There is a 9% corporate tax on profits over approximately $100,000.” Besides taxes, Dubai Chambers provides companies with access to government stakeholders, investors and regulatory laboratories. He added: “We support them for free.” “Whether it’s access to government, investors or influencing policy, we help create the ecosystem they need.”
The Dubai Business Forum in the United States of America provided a clear vision on how the emirate organizes its approach to artificial intelligence. Policy, infrastructure and talent development are being developed in parallel, with an emphasis on testing, implementation and regular re-evaluation.
For US executives evaluating where to build or expand an AI-based business, Dubai is positioning itself as a jurisdiction with set standards and a high tolerance for experimentation. Annual policy updates, direct access to regulatory bodies, and a growing base of technical infrastructure are central to this approach.
As Al Gergawi put it: “If it works for business, it works for Dubai.” In an environment where long-term planning increasingly relies on regulatory clarity and speed of implementation, this framework is likely to attract continued interest from global investors and operators alike.
