Abu Dhabi Launches AiNative: Ambitious AI Training for Government and Public

Abu Dhabi has unveiled a new AI training programme called AiNative, bringing in OpenAI, Microsoft and Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, or MBZUAI, as partners. The plan is ambitious: train every government employee and open the same learning push to the wider public too. By the end of 2026, the programme is meant to upskill 20,000 government staff as part of Abu Dhabi’s wider goal of becoming what it calls the world’s first AI-native government by 2027.

The initiative was announced at Ai Everything Abu Dhabi by the Department of Government Enablement – Abu Dhabi, known as DGE. In simple terms, the idea is not only to hand people shiny new tools, but to make sure they actually know how to use them properly. That sounds spot on to me. Around the startup world, and Arageek readers know this well, there is often a rush to adopt new tech first and ask questions later. It can be a bit of a faff when training comes as an afterthought.

AiNative is being built in layers. Government employees will get foundation learning journeys focused on practical use of AI tools in day-to-day work, including ChatGPT, Codex and Microsoft 365 Copilot. There will also be a separate executive track for department leaders. Later phases are expected to add more specialised certifications linked to specific functions, including coding and data.

The public is not being left out. Citizens and residents in the UAE will be able to access a public learning journey through Tomouh, DGE’s AI-powered learning app, using UAE Pass to log in. The content is expected to focus on practical everyday use cases rather than abstract theory, covering things like personal finance, running a small business, job hunting, studying, and creating content responsibly online. Believe it or not, that everyday angle may end up being the cleverest bit, because AI policy talk can sometimes feel miles away from real life.

DGE said it owns the curriculum, while the content has been shaped with OpenAI, Microsoft and MBZUAI. The programme is also described as technology-agnostic, meaning more partners could be added later rather than locking the whole thing into one ecosystem. In a market where public-private partnerships can sometimes get messy, that flexibility looks like a sensible move.

Wesam Lootah, Director General of GovDigital at DGE, said AI can only create long-term value when people have the knowledge and confidence to use it well. He said AiNative puts that capability at the centre of Abu Dhabi’s AI plans, giving both government employees and the wider community practical skills to use AI responsibly in work and daily life. He added that the collaboration between government, industry and academia is intended to build a shared base for an AI-enabled society and government.

Farouk El Hamzawi, Head of Enterprise at OpenAI MENA, said becoming an AI-native nation starts with people who are confident using AI. According to him, as AI moves beyond answering questions and starts taking on more complex tasks, it creates new possibilities for work, government services and economic growth. He said programmes like this are meant to help turn Abu Dhabi’s broader ambitions into practical, everyday impact.

Amr Kamel, General Manager of Microsoft UAE, made a similar point, saying Abu Dhabi’s leadership recognises that an AI-native government depends as much on people as on technology. He said AiNative should help employees build the confidence to use tools such as Microsoft 365 Copilot responsibly, with the goal of improving decisions, productivity and public services over the long term.

Eric Xing, President and University Professor at MBZUAI, linked the push to lifelong learning. He said understanding and applying new technologies responsibly should be part of a broader culture, and argued that AiNative could help people gain not only practical knowledge but also the judgement needed to use AI thoughtfully.

There is already an initial government pilot under way, with the public rollout to follow after that. The launch also comes only a few months after Abu Dhabi announced the rollout of Microsoft 365 Copilot to 35,000 government employees through its Frontier Employee Programme in July. That earlier move was about access. This one is more about capability. And, well... I mean, that pairing matters. Giving staff a tool without proper training is rarely enough.

For founders and operators across MENA, there is something worth watching here beyond the official language. When governments move from talking about AI to training people at scale, it tends to ripple out into the wider business scene as well. I’ve seen startups in the region get chuffed to bits by pilot launches, only to hit a wall later because the real challenge was adoption, not invention. Abu Dhabi seems to be trying to tackle that problem head-on, and if the execution holds up, it could become a refernce point for others in the region.

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