UAE schools ready to teach AI; UAE AI Camp ends
Middle East AI News weekly digest...
Good morning!
Welcome to this week’s Middle East AI News email digest, brought to you by big data analytics and AI company Presight!
Once again, too much news for one weekly newsletter! And I can’t see this changing for the rest of this year.
UAE school start back adder the summer holidays next week and all government schools will be teaching children about AI! Meanwhile, Presight held a 3-day bootcamp for its new AI-Startup Accelerator; MBZUAI reveals a prize-winning benchmark project; and Abu Dhabi introduces AI-powered newborn genetic screening
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Education
1,000 trained educators to teach AI curriculum
#UAE #curricula – The UAE Ministry of Education has trained over 1,000 teachers to deliver AI as a standalone subject, reaching nearly one million students starting next week. Weekly or bi-weekly AI classes will cover fundamentals, applications, and ethics, in the world’s first nationwide mandatory AI curriculum. (Middle East AI News)
UAE AI Camp engages 34,000 future innovators
#UAE #UAEAICamp – The UAE AI Camp 2025, held with the GCC General Secretariat, attracted 34,000 participants across diverse educational backgrounds. The workshops focused on AI and future sciences, equipping students with practical skills for regional digital transformation. (WAM)
CMU-Q to launch Qatar’s first AI degree
#Qatar #newdegrees – Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar will launch the country’s first Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence in 2025. The programme blends computer science, mathematics, and statistics with specialised AI courses, ethics, and societal impact, preparing future AI leaders. (Doha News)
University of Baghdad to open AI College
#Iraq #faculty – Iraq’s Ministry of Higher Education will open a College of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Baghdad in September. The new college will focus on engineering, bio-applications, and big data, supporting undergraduate and graduate studies as part of Iraq’s knowledge economy strategy. (Iraqi News)
Samsung, UAE AI Office expand skills programme
#UAE #UAEAICamp – The UAE AI Office and Samsung Gulf Electronics launched the third Samsung Innovation Campus programme. Delivered within AI Camp 2025, it included 70+ sessions on AI, ML, data analysis, and IoT. (WAM)
Startups
Presight launches AI-Startup Accelerator bootcamp
#UAE #accelerator – Presight hosted its first AI-Startup Accelerator bootcamp in Abu Dhabi, bringing together 10 global startups from six countries. Chosen from 120+ applicants, ventures will receive four months of support and showcase solutions at GITEX Expand North Star 2025 in October. (Middle East AI News)
Hub71 attracts 13 AI startups, reaches 52 total
#UAE #ecosystem – Abu Dhabi’s Hub71 welcomed 13 new AI startups in H1 2025, bringing its AI portfolio to 52. The Hub71+ AI programme, backed by AI71, Core42, AWS, Google, Nvidia, and MBZUAI, provides founders with global scaling resources, reinforcing Abu Dhabi’s AI hub ambitions. (Middle East AI News)
Hypeo AI secures Pre-Seed funding
#Morocco #fjunding – Casablanca-based Hypeo AI raised Pre-Seed funding from Renew Capital. Its platform connects brands with human and AI influencers, offering campaign matching and analytics. The startup also created Morocco’s first virtual influencer, Kenza Layli. (Middle East AI News)
ZabonEx raises $100k to scale AI food platform
#Oman #funding – Muscat-based ZabonEx secured $100,000 pre-seed funding from Future Fund Oman and ITHCA Group to expand its AI-powered demand forecasting platform. The startup aims to reduce food waste and improve supply efficiency, scaling from Oman into GCC markets. (Zawya)
Healthcare
Abu Dhabi launches AI genetic screening for newborns
#UAE #healthcare – Department of Health Abu Dhabi has introduced a Newborn Genetic Screening Programme, offering whole genome sequencing for over 815 treatable childhood conditions. Implemented with M42, the initiative uses AI and genomics to enable early detection, tailored interventions, and precision healthcare for Emirati families. (Abu Dhabi Media Office)
Saudi hospital deploys humanoid robot for recovery
#Saudi #healthcare – Jeddah’s Eradah Mental Health Complex unveiled Raseen, a humanoid robot in traditional dress. The AI assistant supports addiction recovery by engaging patients, raising awareness, and delivering accurate information on mental health and substance abuse. (Arab News)
R&D
MBZUAI benchmark exposes AI vision flaws
#UAE #agenticAI– Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) researchers unveiled VBench, a benchmark assessing AI agents on visual reasoning. In 828 tests, the top system achieved only 45% success. Developed with Oxford and UCF, the benchmark won a 2025 Agent-X award. (Middle East AI News)
GenAI
Tarjama& to build Arabic-first AI assistant for Aqaba
#Jordan #tourism – Jordan’s Ministry of Digital Economy, JICA, and Tarjama& launched Ask Aqaba, a project to develop an AI tourism assistant built on the Pronoia model. Serving Aqaba’s six million annual visitors, it provides real-time information on tourism, investment, and local services in the Red Sea city. (Middle East AI News)
Zain Kuwait deploys AI assistant for networks
#Kuwait #telecom – Zain Kuwait and Huawei launched the region’s first AI digital assistant for network operations. Supporting engineers with fault detection and repair, it boosts efficiency by 20% and is expected to reduce site downtime by 2,250 hours annually. (Kuwait Times)
Digital Transformation
Tunisia launches Tartib 2.0 for project selection
#Tunisia #investment – Tunisia’s Ministry of Economy and Planning has introduced Tartib 2.0, a mandatory digital tool from 2026 to evaluate public investment projects. (Agenzia Nova)
CoEs
Morocco’s UIR, Cisco launch AI incubation centre
#Morocco #cybersecurity – Morocco’s International University of Rabat and Cisco launched a Cisco EDGE Incubation Centre focused on AI and cybersecurity. The centre links academia, startups, and public institutions to drive skills and innovation in line with Morocco’s digital strategy. (Medafrica Times)
[ This newsletter was AI edited & human edited ]