GCC AI News — 26 Oct 2026

Abu Dhabi's Department of Government Enablement announced TAMM Global, a new company that will license the emirate's AI-powered government platform to governments internationally, Khaleej Times reported. It is the first time TAMM, which underpins more than 1,200 services used by 4.7 million people, will be offered outside the UAE. Its newest feature, AutoGov, billed as the world's first AI public servant, proactively renews licences, settles payments and books appointments without being asked; since launch it has saved residents Dh17 million in late fees and an estimated 54 million hours, with satisfaction at 94.8%. TAMM Global will offer the platform's architecture, pre-built services and implementation expertise, customisable to local languages, laws and data-sovereignty rules. TAMM 5.0 is expected in December 2026.

It marks a turning point: a Gulf government is now exporting proven AI public-service technology rather than importing it. After winning UN-backed WSIS and Gartner awards, Abu Dhabi is positioning homegrown AI as a model other states can adopt, showcasing the region's capability on the world stage.

A foreign government could license TAMM Global to stand up proactive, AI-driven citizen services, such as automatic licence renewals and appointment booking, in its own language and under its own data rules, instead of building a digital-government platform from scratch.

Opening the 'Investing in AI for an Inclusive Digital Future' session at the 9th World Investment Forum in Doha on 25 October, Qatar's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Mohammed bin Ali Al Mannai, said the country is building a knowledge-based digital economy on four pillars, Qatar News Agency reported. They are: investing in sovereign, scalable digital infrastructure, anchored by the $20 billion Qai-Brookfield partnership for AI infrastructure; developing people, with a target of more than 50,000 training opportunities in digital and AI fields by 2030; accelerating technology adoption and entrepreneurship through a QR6 billion incentive package for companies and startups; and building trust through responsible AI governance, with human rights and human oversight at the core and support for Arabic-inclusive AI. The forum, co-hosted with UNCTAD, runs 25-27 October under the theme 'Investing in the Future'.

It shows Qatar moving from headline investment numbers to a concrete plan that pairs infrastructure and capital with skills, startup support and governance. Framing AI around training 50,000 people and empowering SMEs, not just data centres, is a people-first approach aligned with Qatar National Vision 2030.

A Qatari startup or SME could tap the QR6 billion incentive package and the planned training places to adopt AI and compete internationally, while relying on the Qai-Brookfield infrastructure for high-performance computing instead of sourcing it abroad.

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) launched a Center of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence for the health sector and signed a memorandum of understanding to activate joint work, the government's national portal reported on 21 October. The collaboration focuses on building the foundations and standards for health data and AI capabilities and establishing a national centre for innovation in data and AI for healthcare. The Minister of Health welcomed the inauguration and the MoU, expressing hope it will expand AI services in the health field and contribute positively to the goals of Saudi Vision 2030, while the SDAIA President welcomed the cooperation under the directives of the Crown Prince as SDAIA Chairman.

Healthcare is one of the highest-value, highest-stakes places to apply AI, and doing it well requires shared data standards and governance. A dedicated centre pairing the health ministry with the national AI authority gives Saudi hospitals and researchers a trusted, standardised path to adopt AI, rather than scattered one-off pilots.

A Saudi hospital or research team could work through the new centre to deploy AI tools, such as diagnostic support or operational analytics, built on nationally agreed health-data standards, making it easier to scale what works safely across the kingdom's health system.

Abu Dhabi healthcare company M42 launched Ossi, an AI platform designed to cut administrative load and give doctors more time with patients, announced at the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit and reported by The National on 22 October. Built with Microsoft and described as 'built by and for people here in Abu Dhabi', Ossi works alongside electronic medical records, combining AI agents, voice recognition and healthcare-focused language models to support physicians before, during and after a consultation; a Patient Summary Agent briefs the doctor on history, medications, lab and radiology results so nothing is missed. M42 estimates it can help doctors spend up to 60% more time with patients. It understands Arabic and English, with Greek and other languages in progress, and is available at seven M42 centres across the UAE and Bahrain, with plans to scale globally via Microsoft Azure.

Doctor burnout and rushed appointments are driven partly by paperwork. An Arabic- and English-capable AI assistant that summarises records and automates documentation lets clinicians focus on patients, and it is a homegrown Emirati system now spreading into Bahrain and aiming for global reach.

A physician at an M42 centre can open Ossi before a consultation to get an instant summary of a patient's history and recent results, then let it capture notes during the visit, spending more of the appointment listening to the patient rather than typing.

Oman launched the second phase of its National Digital Economy Programme (2026-2030) on 22 October under the patronage of the Minister of Finance, targeting a contribution of OMR 1.5 billion to GDP, OMR 300 million in technology investments and about 3,000 new direct jobs annually, according to the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology and the Foreign Ministry. The new phase focuses on digitalising strategic economic sectors, expanding e-commerce and electronic payments, supporting the digital transformation of SMEs and accelerating the adoption of AI. The launch ceremony also unveiled the programme's Strategic Intelligence Platform, developed in cooperation with the World Economic Forum. The work builds on Oman's National AI Programme, whose next phase aims to move the Sultanate from AI adoption toward homegrown AI research, innovation and technology localisation under Oman Vision 2040.

It moves Oman from laying AI foundations to using the technology to grow real economic sectors and support small businesses. Clear GDP, investment and jobs targets, plus a WEF-built intelligence platform, turn digital-economy ambition into measurable goals aligned with Oman Vision 2040.

An Omani SME could use the programme's digital-transformation support and AI tools to move its operations and payments online and adopt AI in daily work, while policymakers draw on the new Strategic Intelligence Platform to target investment where it will create the most jobs.

The UAE's Federal Tax Authority launched an integrated, AI-powered digital platform for tourist VAT refunds, described as the world's first of its kind, in an 20 October statement. Built with Planet, the authorised operator of the refund scheme, it offers fully paperless procedures using a smart mobile app, AI-powered facial recognition and automated checks, and is live at Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi, Dubai International and Sharjah International. Tourists register by scanning their face and documents, then scan a QR code at the airport; the system automatically matches invoice and travel data, identifies refund-eligible transactions and lets most travellers finish in the app without in-person verification, in a multilingual experience that adapts to the tourist's nationality. The FTA said refunds now take one business day, down from about nine, part of its Zero Government Bureaucracy Programme.

It is a concrete, everyday example of AI making a government service faster and simpler for millions of visitors, cutting a nine-day wait to a single day. By matching data automatically and reducing manual checks, it shows how the UAE is using AI to streamline bureaucracy rather than add to it.

A tourist leaving the UAE can claim their VAT refund entirely through the Planet app, scanning their face and a QR code at the airport and receiving the money within a business day, skipping paperwork and long counter queues before their flight.

AI adoption could boost annual economic growth in the Middle East and Central Asia by 0.1 to 0.6 percentage points over the medium term, depending on digital readiness, the International Monetary Fund said, presenting findings from its October Regional Economic Outlook at a joint press conference with the Dubai International Financial Centre in Dubai on 22 October. The report said AI offers the region a unique opportunity to raise productivity and strengthen medium-term growth, noting that several GCC countries, including the UAE, are making substantial investments to become global AI hubs. The IMF raised its forecast for the UAE's 2027 economic growth to 7.7%, up 2.4 points from its April projection, with AI investment estimated to add around 0.5 percentage points to the country's annual growth.

It is independent validation from the IMF that the Gulf's heavy spending on AI infrastructure and skills could translate into real, measurable economic growth, not just headlines. Tying AI directly to a higher growth forecast gives governments and investors evidence that the region's digital bet is paying off.

A business or investor weighing where to deploy capital in the Gulf can use the IMF's analysis to prioritise AI-ready sectors and markets, since the fund links continued AI investment and digital readiness to faster national growth, especially in economies like the UAE.

Kuwait is strengthening integration between government bodies and easing data exchange to maximise the benefits of AI, Minister of Communications Omar Al-Omar said on 21 October on the sidelines of the International Forum for Artificial Intelligence and Digitisation in Kuwait City, part of Gulf Digitisation Week held with the regulator CITRA. Al-Omar affirmed the state's readiness to advance a 'paperless government' and said digital services give Kuwait a distinct advantage. He also made the first public announcement of a project with information-management firm Iron Mountain to digitise state archives, aimed at making information easier to access while keeping it secure and confidential, supporting the move to paperless government and better long-term decision-making. Kuwait has built partnerships with firms including Microsoft on an AI-supported cloud zone, an innovation centre and training for thousands of nationals.

Connecting government systems and digitising archives is the unglamorous groundwork that makes useful public-sector AI possible. By prioritising data-sharing, security and training its own people, Kuwait is laying the foundations for faster, smarter services in line with its digital-transformation goals under Kuwait Vision 2035.

A Kuwaiti citizen or resident could eventually complete government transactions faster as ministries share data and retire paper forms, while digitised, secured archives let officials retrieve records quickly and make better-informed decisions.

National Bank of Bahrain Group, comprising NBB and Bahrain Islamic Bank, reported major progress in its enterprise-wide AI programme, AI@NBB, aimed at scaling AI responsibly and delivering measurable value, Biz Bahrain reported. After building foundations, piloting applications, setting an AI roadmap and introducing secure enterprise tools, the group is extending AI across customer experience, employee productivity, risk management and operational resilience. Live applications already include an AI-powered customer-service virtual assistant, cybersecurity incident response, internal audit and legal AI capabilities, and agentic policy and HR document management. A federated operating model pairs central oversight and standards with business-embedded 'AI Champions' and cross-functional squads, with each use case subject to defined controls and human oversight. NBB is deepening work with Bahrain-based ARRAY Innovation while keeping ownership of its AI strategy and outcomes.

Many organisations run impressive AI pilots that never scale. NBB's structured, governed approach, with human oversight on every use case and knowledge kept in-house, is a model for how banks can adopt AI responsibly and actually reach production, reinforcing Bahrain's push to modernise its financial sector.

A Bahraini bank customer can get faster help from NBB's AI virtual assistant and more secure service as AI speeds up fraud and incident response, while the bank's staff use AI to cut routine document and policy work, with humans still reviewing consequential decisions.

Abu Dhabi launched AiNative, an AI training programme for the government workforce and the wider public, developed by the Department of Government Enablement with OpenAI, Microsoft and Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, Ahram Online reported. It initially aims to upskill 20,000 government employees by the end of 2026 before extending free training to citizens and residents. The government track offers foundational learning journeys plus an executive programme for department leaders, with hands-on training on tools such as ChatGPT, Codex and Microsoft 365 Copilot. The public programme, delivered through DGE's AI-powered learning app Tomouh and accessed via UAE Pass, focuses on everyday uses of AI such as managing personal finances, running a small business, finding a job, studying and creating content responsibly, using the free version of ChatGPT.

Access to AI tools matters less if people cannot use them well. By training civil servants and then opening free, practical AI education to the whole public, Abu Dhabi is trying to close the gap between AI availability and real-world confidence, part of its goal of becoming an AI-native government by 2027.

An Abu Dhabi resident could sign in with UAE Pass to the Tomouh app and take free AiNative lessons on using AI for everyday tasks like budgeting, job hunting or running a small business, building practical skills rather than being left behind by the technology.