Are City Governments Ready to Embrace the AI Revolution?
Source: Capital FM Kenya
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 28 - It is a well-known fact that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been the 'flavor of the month' for every month of the past decade. From chat-bots and personalized shopping applications to autonomous vehicles and flying taxis, companies are trying their luck with AI everywhere. We however know this is just the beginning of AI. The full potential of AI for reshaping urban landscapes cannot be harnessed without a supportive government providing the right infrastructure and regulations, a co-operative and symbiotic relationship between public and private entities and a conductive AI start-up and scale-up ecosystem. Dubai stands out as a great textbook example to draw inspiration from.
Since 2000, Dubai has become a global leader in the e-Government sphere, harnessing the power of technology to enhance and optimize efficiency and performance in the public sector. As a result of the adoption of the Government Resources Platform Systems platform for all government entities and reduced duplication of efforts, Dubai Government saved over USD 1.3 Billion between 2003 and 2015.
In 2021, Dubai achieved its ambitions outlined under the Dubai Paperless Strategy as 100% of government transactions became digital and completely paperless generating savings of over 757 thousand tons of CO2 emissions for Dubai, and helps annually save 39,000 trees, 13 Million Man Hours and over US$ 270 million.
Since then, Digital Dubai, the government entity tasked with developing and overseeing the implementation of policies and strategies that govern all matters related to Dubai's information technology, data and digital ecosystem, has shifted its focus from building a digital government to building a digital city, embracing emerging technologies and private sector partners achieve their goals, with AI becoming a key focus and pillar of that vision.
Launched in 2023, the Dubai Centre for Artificial Intelligence, The Centre is Dubai's answer to the rapid technological change as the government adopts new systems to test innovative AI technologies and harness them for benefit of society with the aim of making a real impact. The Centre is creating a blueprint to propel the growth of generative AI applications in the city's public sector.
Taking Dubai's AI ambitions one step further is DubaiAI, a ChatGPT powered digital city concierge, which is essentially the government's flagship one-stop-shop app for all city services which hosts over 250 services from 35 government and semi government entities. Launched by Digital Dubai, DubaiAI provides valuable data about the city across variety of topics from both the government and private sector, including health, educations, tourism, investment and other sectors. The unique platform is creating a new model for fostering effective cooperation and futuristic ideas that will fast track sustainable economic growth and
development in line with the Dubai Economic Agenda D33, which aims to contribute AED 100 billion (US$27.2 billion) annually to the city's economy through digital transformation projects.
Tasked with digitalizing life in Dubai and spearheading the AI-powered urban planning, Digital Dubai is also testing Robotic Process Automation tools in day-to-day administration tasks within the Human Resources, Finance and Procurement process of Dubai Government entities, ensuring greater efficiency and response times to government employees, citizens, residents and businesses.
On a sector level, various government entities across Dubai are also embracing AI like never before as they adopt a predictive and progressive approach to enhancing efficiency and innovating. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), for example, has developed several innovations using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve the efficiency of operations in Dubai's water network, monitor cyberattacks, leaks and faults, and isolate and repair them immediately.
On the other hand, robotics and automation are increasingly playing a bigger role in Dubai's fast-growing healthcare sector, which is seeing a new wave of innovation-focused investment from public and private sector stakeholders. Notable use-cases include robotic-assisted surgeries, robotic pharmacy services, robotic telemedicine and AI-enabled biomedical research.
Meanwhile, Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is using new AI-powered tools to
to monitor and assess the performance of delivery bike riders operating in Dubai, while it actively tests robotaxis and AI-powered police patrols and develops a prototype for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), all of which are expected to transform the city in the near future and elevate its status as a global smart city that is pioneering and embracing cutting-edge smart city technologies.
As a city with its eye fixated on the future, Dubai has remained cognizant of the need to create a conducive and future-forward entrepreneurial ecosystem that enable young businesses to thrive and grow. Sandbox Dubai, among the key initiatives unveiled under D33, is a testament to Dubai's vision of becoming a preferred market for innovative companies and entrepreneurs to test out and commercialize new technologies and cement the city's status as a major innovation hub in the process.
The growing number of accelerators surfacing across Dubai is an indicator of growing appeal and potential of the city's entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Dubai Centre for AI's Accelerator Programmes alone attracted 615 startups from 55 countries after its launch last year, supporting the development of AI-based solutions to current and future challenges.
Meanwhile, Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai's financial free zone, launched a ground-breaking Artificial Intelligence (AI) and coding license in 2023 in cooperation with the UAE Artificial Intelligence
Office. The license, which is a UAE first, will advance the country's Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031, which aims to enhance the UAE's reputation in this field by attracting AI companies and coders from around the world.
Such progressive developments complement the competitive advantages that Dubai offers innovative AI startups and scaleups such as 100% foreign ownership, business-friendly regulatory environment, remote working visas and 5-year entrepreneurial visas, access to specialised tech talent and a maturing venture capital landscape, among many others.
By prioritizing PPPs, building the regulations and policies for ecosystem growth, fostering AI scale-ups, and embracing the potential of AI and IoT, Dubai is not only shaping its own future but also offering a roadmap for other cities around the world that seek to leverage AI technologies and data as building blocks of hyper connectivity to connect government, business and all segments of society to expand its innovation ecosystem.