GCC AI News — 18 Sep 2026

Abu Dhabi's Executive Council deployed an agentic artificial intelligence platform for the first time to support government decision-making at its highest level. Chaired by Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, the meeting used an AI Committee System to analyse proposals, generate executive summaries and provide real-time insights, with every output kept traceable to its original source documents. It supports the UAE's national goal, announced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, of delivering half of government services using AI agents within two years.

It shows AI moving from back-office pilots into the room where public decisions are actually made — with source-traceability built in so leaders can verify every AI-generated insight.

A government committee can have an AI system summarise lengthy proposals and surface relevant data in real time, while still tracing each point back to the original document for accountability.

Dubai ranked second worldwide in Boston Consulting Group's inaugural Intelligent Cities Index — which assessed 61 cities across 39 countries — and claimed the top global spot for AI adoption and smart-city technologies. The index measured how effectively cities deploy digital tech and AI across five pillars: outcomes, strategy, adoption, ways of working and enablers. Dubai outperformed New York, Washington and Amsterdam, with Abu Dhabi ranking 20th. BCG credited Dubai's widespread deployment of AI-powered applications and digital government services, tied to high resident satisfaction.

It signals that the Gulf is not just building AI infrastructure but leading the world at turning it into everyday public services — the 'application phase' that actually improves residents' lives.

A resident can access AI-enabled government services — from permits to city information — through digital platforms, reflecting adoption that BCG ranked first in the world.

Oman launched a national AI project to screen diabetic patients for diabetic retinopathy, becoming the third country globally to implement the technology. In its first phase across 25 health facilities, the system screened more than 43,000 patients, analysing retinal images to identify over 12,000 high-risk cases needing specialist care, at a reported 91.3% accuracy. The Ministry of Health said it cut specialist waiting lists by 87% — appointment waits fell from 62 days to eight — and reduced assessment times from about 90 minutes to 15. Plans include expanding to remote areas and training a local AI engine on Omani data.

It's AI delivering measurable public-health impact — earlier detection to prevent avoidable blindness, dramatically shorter waits, and lower costs — in a system serving the whole population.

A diabetic patient in Oman can get a fast, accurate retinal screening at a local clinic, with the AI flagging high-risk cases for a specialist instead of waiting months for an appointment.

Saudi Arabia's HUMAIN, the PIF-owned AI company, formed a strategic partnership with San Francisco-based Together AI to build a new 250-megawatt data center in the Kingdom and connect HUMAIN's fast-growing compute capacity with global AI-native and enterprise demand. The deal pairs HUMAIN's large-scale, multi-chip infrastructure and expanding cloud and inference capabilities with Together AI's open-source model ecosystem and inference platform, letting developers worldwide build and deploy AI applications on infrastructure hosted inside Saudi Arabia. It supports HUMAIN's strategy of building the full AI value chain, from data centers to applications.

It deepens the Gulf's role as a global AI hosting hub and gives developers access to large-scale, open-source-friendly compute in the region — expanding capacity and lowering barriers to build.

A developer or startup can run open-source AI models on Together AI's platform hosted in Saudi data centers, gaining regional low-latency capacity without building their own infrastructure.

Dubai's Electronic Security Centre unveiled Saraab, an AI model developed by an Emirati team to detect deepfake videos, at the opening of GISEC Global. Amer Sharaf of the Cyber Security Systems and Services Sector said the tool scans videos frame by frame and uses a facial heat map to identify signs of manipulation that are hard for a person to spot, as AI makes voice clones, deepfakes and phishing increasingly convincing. Saraab will be released as an open-source tool that people can download and use to help verify whether a video is authentic.

As deepfakes erode trust online, a free, open-source detector built locally puts a practical safeguard in the public's hands — protecting people from fraud and misinformation.

A journalist or bank employee can run a suspicious video through Saraab to check, frame by frame, whether a face has been digitally manipulated before acting on it.

Kuwait's Ministry of Education advanced a project to integrate AI into the national education system under a strategic cooperation agreement with Google, targeting around 40,000 teachers across the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 academic years. The phased plan first trained 54 technical supervisors as trainers, then 3,488 teachers, and will expand to all secondary school teachers and department heads. Training includes workshops on AI education tools such as NotebookLM and Gemini, aligned with approved curricula and focused on the responsible use of AI in the classroom.

Preparing tens of thousands of teachers to use AI responsibly — rather than banning it — builds the human capacity needed for the technology to genuinely improve learning.

A Kuwaiti teacher can use AI tools like NotebookLM to prepare lessons and personalise materials, applying skills gained through structured, curriculum-aligned training.

Qatar announced the launch of the Global Alliance for AI Ethics (GAAIE) during the inaugural session of the UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance. An initiative of Hamad Bin Khalifa University, part of Qatar Foundation, the alliance aims to foster a multi-stakeholder global dialogue on AI ethics and ensure diverse ethical values and cultural traditions shape international technical and regulatory frameworks. Communications Minister Mohammed bin Ali al-Mannai outlined priorities including bridging gaps in computing, data and talent, promoting interoperability across governance frameworks, and keeping human rights and meaningful human oversight at the core of public trust in AI.

Global AI rules are being written now; a Gulf-led alliance ensures voices and values from outside the US and China help shape frameworks that will govern AI everywhere.

A policymaker or researcher can join a multi-stakeholder alliance to help ensure AI governance frameworks reflect their region's ethical and cultural priorities, not just those of a few tech hubs.

stc Bahrain launched Bayan, described as the kingdom's most advanced digital contact centre, at LEAP 2026. Bayan introduces AI voice and digital agents, real-time agent assistance and automated quality and sentiment analytics across the customer journey. Unlike systems relying on generic translation, it is purpose-built to understand Bahraini and Gulf Arabic nuances across voice, chat and back-office operations. The company said the solution is designed to resolve up to 70% of routine contacts without human escalation and reduce average handling times by up to 30%, combining automation with human expertise under a governance framework.

AI that genuinely understands local Arabic dialects — not generic translations — makes customer service faster and more natural for Gulf residents, and shows the value of region-specific models.

A customer calling in Bahraini Arabic can have routine requests resolved instantly by an AI agent that understands the dialect, with complex cases smoothly handed to a human.

Saudi Aramco said its investments in artificial intelligence and other technologies delivered more than $5 billion in 'realized value' last year by cutting costs and boosting efficiency, exceeding its targets. At its Dhahran headquarters, the company showed how it uses historical data, digital twins and network monitoring to spot problems and speed recovery. A newly installed quantum computer will improve well-modelling and the scheduling of tankers at its ports, with plans to lease spare capacity to other regional users, while an internally developed large language model helps employees speed up documentation and reduce bureaucracy.

It puts a hard number on AI's payoff in heavy industry — proof that the Gulf's technology investment is translating into measurable efficiency, not just headline announcements.

An engineer can use a digital twin and AI monitoring to detect a developing equipment fault early and act before it causes costly downtime.

At the 9th Bahrain Smart Cities Summit 2026, the Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) outlined how the kingdom's digital transformation has enhanced the efficiency of government services and strengthened its position in international digital-government indices. Deputy Chief Executive for eTransformation Ali Abdulaziz Al Janahi said Bahrain has built an integrated national digital ecosystem based on connected services, shared digital infrastructure, a cloud-first policy and data-driven government. The National Portal (bahrain.bh) now offers more than 800 integrated eServices, alongside features such as personal user profiles and favourite services for a unified, user-centric experience.

A mature, AI-and-data-driven digital government means residents and businesses get faster, simpler public services — the practical end goal of national AI strategies.

A Bahraini resident can complete more than 800 government services online through a single national portal, with a personalised profile that streamlines repeat tasks.