The UAE Cabinet, chaired by Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has approved a federal governance framework that defines how every ministry and federal entity will implement the national Agentic AI Project, in a push to make the country the first government in the world to deploy autonomous AI agents across half of its public services (per UAE Media Office, 18 May 2026).
50% of services to run on Agentic AI
The framework sets a national target of transforming at least 50 percent of federal government services and operations using Agentic AI systems (per GCC Business News). It assigns specialised teams inside each entity, led by the respective minister or head of entity and including officials responsible for services, operations, digital transformation and AI, to oversee the rollout.
Phase one covers four service categories
Cabinet approval covers Phase One of the project, which encompasses Citizens Services, Residents Services, Business Sector Services and General Public Services (per Economy Middle East). The first package of Agentic AI-powered government services includes integrated bundles aimed at citizens, residents, businesses and investors.
80,000 employees to be trained
Alongside the framework, the Cabinet launched the largest training programme in the history of UAE federal government. Roughly 80,000 employees, from ministers and senior executives to new recruits, will be equipped with Agentic AI skills (per Khaleej Times). The training programme is being delivered in partnership with Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI).
Healthcare gets its own AI policy
The same Cabinet session also approved the National Policy for Advancing Digital Healthcare Services and Artificial Intelligence in the Healthcare Sector, designed to support an integrated national AI-driven healthcare system (per Sharjah24). The policy positions healthcare as one of the priority verticals for federal AI deployment.
Strategic context
The Agentic AI Project sits inside a broader push the leadership has branded UAE Government 4.0, and follows years of investment in sovereign AI capability, including the launch of Falcon large language models and an expanding domestic compute base. Independent analysts note the framework is unusual in that it does not stop at AI strategy but commits to an explicit service-coverage target with a governance mechanism inside every federal entity (per MIT Sloan Management Review Middle East).
