AI to enhance UAE lawmaking; Saudi unveils National Skills Platform
Middle East AI News weekly digest...
Good morning!
Welcome to this week’s Middle East AI News!
In case you missed it, I'm going to be sharing a short readership survey once per month. This will help us better understand Middle East AI News readership and grow the platform. It's easy. It's short. And it's 100% anonymous! Click here for the first one.
Another busy news week with Saudi Arabia and the UAE making most of the big announcements. The UAE Cabinet approves AI regulatory ecosystem to accelerate and enhance lawmaking; Saudi Arabia announces a National Skills Platform; the UAE’s Federal AI Programme graduates 100 Emiratis; and UAE-based AIREV welcomes investment from VentureWave Capital.
Meanwhile, Dubai AI Week begins on Monday and finalists for the Global Prompt Engineering Championship have just been announced.
Scroll down for these stories and more. View web page for full length newsletter.
And a quick reminder that Middle East AI News is supporting this year’s AI World Series Awards an awards programme to celebrate outstanding AI innovation and implementation. The awards are organised by Artificial Intelligence for Business Institute and hosted by Dubai Silicon Oasis. If you want to enter your AI innovation and implementation project: here is the entry form.
Thanks for reading!
/Carrington
Policy
UAE Cabinet approves AI regulatory ecosystem
#UAE #law – The UAE Cabinet has launched a new AI-based regulatory intelligence system to track the real-time impact of laws and accelerate legislative reform. The initiative could cut law-making time by 70%, using AI to streamline research, drafting, and evaluation. A unified legal map will link federal laws with rulings and services. (Middle East AI News)
Saudi opens consultation on Global AI Hub Law
#Saudi #policy – Saudi Arabia’s Communications, Space & Technology Commission (CST) is seeking public input on its draft Global AI Hub Law, designed to attract FDI in sovereign data centres and position the Kingdom as a digital and AI leader. The consultation is open until 14 May 2025. (Middle East AI News)
Funding
Venturewave invests in UAE-based AIOS pioneer AIREV
#UAE #funding – UAE AI start-up AIREV has secured Series A investment from Ireland’s VentureWave Capital to support global expansion of its OnDemand platform. Backed by Core42, AIREV has grown to 60,000 users and 300+ agentic AI tools since launching in July 2024. (Middle East AI News)
Education
Saudi Arabia unveils AI-powered National Skills Platform
#Saudi #training – Saudi Arabia has launched a National Skills Platform powered by AI to support over 3 million training opportunities. Developed by the Ministry of Human Resources, the platform offers personalised training pathways for key sectors including cybersecurity and healthcare, aligning workforce skills with global and local market needs. (Middle East AI News)
100 Emiratis graduate UAE AI Programme
#UAE #education – Over 100 Emiratis have completed the latest cohort of the UAE Artificial Intelligence Programme, bringing the total number of graduates to more than 370. Graduates presented 27 applied AI projects addressing national challenges. (Middle East AI News)
SDAIA launches 'Introduction to AI' course for secondary students
#SaudiArabia #schools – SDAIA and the Ministry of Education have launched a digital AI course for 50,000+ third-year secondary students, unveiled at the HCI 2025 conference. (Saudi Gazette)
Mostaqbali now to be delivered via National eLearning Center
#Saudi #skills – The Mostaqbali AI and digital skills programme, formed by Oracle and Saudi’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology will now be delivered via the National eLearning Center. The programme aims to train to train 50,000 Saudi nationals to strengthen the Kingdom’s tech talent pipeline. (Zawya)
Quantum
Saudi Arabia honours global quantum start-ups
#Saudi #quantum – C4IR Saudi Arabia and the World Economic Forum’s UpLink have awarded ten international quantum start-ups for breakthrough innovations. The winners offer scalable solutions health, energy, and climate. Over 300 global experts attended the event. KACST also announced a plan to create Quantum Valley, a hub for quantum computing in Saudi Arabia. (Middle East AI News)
FDI
UAE’s NextGen FDI draws 90 tech firms since 2022
#UAE #investment – The Ministry of Economy’s NextGen FDI programme has attracted over 90 global companies since 2022, boosting sectors like AI, robotics, and climate tech. Major firms including Coinbase, Ripple, and XPENG are expanding UAE operations, reinforcing its status as a tech investment hub. (WAM)
Egypt Budget
Egypt allocates EGP 13B for CIT sector in FY 2025/26
#Egypt #budget – Egypt’s FY 2025/26 development plan allocates EGP 13 billion ($250km) in public investments for the communications and IT sector, including EGP 9 billion ($180m) from the state budget. The plan targets infrastructure upgrades, cybersecurity, AI adoption, and localisation of IT industries. (Amwal Al Ghad)
Smart Cities
e& UAE deploys autonomous drones for cellular base stations
#UAE #drones – e& UAE has deployed autonomous drones to inspect cellular base stations nationwide. The drones use real-time analytics to detect structural faults, boost emergency response, and reduce carbon emissions through predictive maintenance. (Middle East AI News)
Robotics takes centre stage in UAE’s fight against waste
#UAE #wasteremoval – Students from 22 UAE universities competed at the American University of Sharjah this week, showcasing robotic solutions to tackle global waste challenges. 100 teams engineered smart sorting devices and aquatic waste collectors in response to the growing global waste crisis. (Gulf Today)
Digital Transformation
Nokia and Morocco partner to drive Digital Morocco 2030
#Morocco #telecom – Nokia has signed an MoU with Morocco’s Ministry of Digital Transition to support the country’s Digital Morocco 2030 strategy. The deal includes boosting national 5G and fibre coverage, training young talent, and launching a National Digital Fabric using Nokia’s Network as Code platform. A new Nokia Innovation Center will support R&D and the Al Jazari innovation initiative. (Zawya)
Media
Abu Dhabi, Dubai partner to use AI to boost Arabic media content
#UAE #Arabic – Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre has signed an MoU with Dubai Media Academy to co-develop Arabic language programmes, academic curricula, and AI-driven content initiatives. The collaboration aims to enhance publishing, research, and media production across academic and media sectors. (WAM)
Dubai AI Week
24 finalists selected for Global Prompt Engineering Championship
#UAE #prompting – Dubai Centre for AI has named 24 finalists from 16 countries for the second Global Prompt Engineering Championship. Held 22–23 April during Dubai AI Week, the event drew 3,800+ entries and offers a AED 1M prize pool across Art, Video, Coding, and Gaming categories. (Middle East AI News)
Dubai AI Week to welcome 10,000+ participants from 100+ countries
#UAE #DubaiAIWeek – Dubai AI Week (21-25 April) will bring together AI leaders, innovators, and policymakers from 100+ countries. Backed by Dubai Future Foundation and Dubai Centre for AI, the week will feature 150+ sessions, 180+ speakers, hackathons, and competitions. (Dubai Media Office) (Middle East AI News)
Events
Abu Dhabi to host AI-robotics healthcare conference
#UAE #healthcare – The first Abu Dhabi AI-Robotics Conference will run from 23–25 April at Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI). The inaugural conference will focus on the role of AI and robotics in transforming healthcare. (MBZUAI)
[ This newsletter was AI edited & human edited ]