Abu Dhabi set to become the first AI-Powered government by 2027 (www.cio.com)

Abu Dhabi’s Department of Government Enablement unveiled the Abu Dhabi Government Digital Strategy 2025–2027, committing AED 13 billion to build a fully “AI-powered” government by 2027. The plan mandates 100% adoption of sovereign cloud for government operations, a unified digital ERP backbone, and full automation of processes to support deployment of more than 200 AI solutions across public services. The strategy pairs infrastructure upgrades with a people-focused “AI for All” program to upskill citizens and prepares the ecosystem via partnerships with MBZUAI and the Advanced Technology Research Council. For the AI/ML community this is a major testbed: it promises large-scale, production-grade datasets, sovereign-cloud workflows, and integrated ERP telemetry that can accelerate applied research, model deployment, MLOps practices, and public-sector automation. Projected impacts include AED 24 billion added to GDP and 5,000+ new jobs, but the rollout also raises key technical considerations—data governance and sovereignty, interoperability across legacy systems, cybersecurity, model auditing and ethics, and workforce transition. If executed well, Abu Dhabi could become a global exemplar for end-to-end, government-scale AI adoption; if not, it will highlight the practical challenges of safely operationalizing AI at national scale.