Benchmark Drilldown · Updated 2026-05-04
AI Strategy 2031
Among the world's earliest national AI strategies; targets AI contributing 33.5% of GDP
- Year
- 2017
- Region
- UAE
- Type
- Strategy / policy document
Detail
The UAE AI Strategy 2031 was launched by the UAE government in October 2017 — the first national AI strategy in the Arab world — and updated in 2021. Core target: AI contributing 33.5% of GDP (~US$91bn at 2017 prices) by 2031. Eight priority sectors: transport, education, health, space, technology, renewable energy, water, and technology. Supporting mechanism: the world's first AI Minister (Omar Sultan Al Olama, appointed 2017) plus the UAE AI Office. Assessment: the early-2017 positioning put the UAE ahead of many G7 countries in the "national AI strategy era". Eight years on, the 33.5% GDP target reads more as a slogan than a measurable KPI — but the strategy's signalling effect (drawing in G42 / Microsoft / OpenAI) has clearly worked.
References
Continue exploring this region
Region overview
UAE Core Strategy
UAE's core AI strategy is AI Strategy 2031, with the public year marked as 2017/2021.
Region overview
UAE Investment Scale
UAE's AI investment signal is: $100B MGX fund / $15.2B Microsoft.
Region overview
UAE Governance Model
UAE's AI governance model can be summarised as: Voluntary ethics code, sandbox-friendly.
Region overview
UAE Core Strength
UAE's comparative strength versus Singapore is: Largest capital pool, world's first AI Minister.
Core strategy
AI Ethics Principles
Voluntary ethical guidelines
Core strategy
AI Charter
Updated AI governance principles
Data note
Curated benchmark drilldown profile, last updated 2026-05-04.