22 Chief AI Officers appointed in Dubai government entities

Chief Artificial Intelligence Officers (CAIOs) have been approved for appointment across 22 Dubai government entities, Sheikh Hamdan, the Crown Prince of Dubai has announced.

The CAIOs are being installed in all the key government departments and agencies, including the Department of Finance, Road and Transport Authority and Dubai Police.

Sheikh Hamdan shared that the move will be in "support Dubai’s journey and expertise, and transform its horizons in developing innovative solutions built on advanced technology" as well as support the Minister of Finance' vision to position Dubai as a "global hub in developing and deploying AI solutions".

According to Omar Sultan Al Olama, the Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, as reported in the Khaleej Times, “The Chief AI Officers will be assuming their duties today [11th June]. They were hand-picked not by taking IT professionals and calling them chief AI professor. What happened was, each individual went through a rigorous exercise of understanding the knowledge, the capabilities of deploying this technology and also what their blind spots were. That’s because we want to ensure that every adviser in every government department is aware, is capable and is able to make the vision a reality.”

The move to implement AI officers across the Dubai government was first announced by the Crown Prince in April, when he launched the Dubai Universal Blueprint for Artificial Intelligence, which aims to accelerate the adoption of AI applications and progress towards the city's longstanding vision of a futuristic government.

After the initial phase of AI officers in government, the next step will be the launch of a comprehensive programme to attract and enable data centres, in addition to the introduction of a new AI company licence.