Investing in an AI-Driven World | Building an AI Nation

His Excellency Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group CEO of Mubadala and Secretary General of the UAE’s Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology Council (AIATC), outlined the UAE’s vision and strategy for becoming an AI nation during his February 2026 interview with Brad Smith on Microsoft’s “Tools and Weapons” podcast (recorded at Davos).

Vision: Reinvention for a New Era of “Intelligence”

Khaldoon framed the UAE’s AI ambitions as the latest chapter in the country’s history of bold reinvention and long-term resilience. He drew direct parallels to the collapse of the pearl trade (which once dominated the economy), the subsequent pivot to oil and gas, and now the shift to AI and renewables:

“From pearl trade to AI: a history of reinvention.”

The core vision is to position the UAE not just as an early adopter but as a global leader in producing and commercializing “intelligence” — treating AI as the new “barrel” of value, powered by the country’s abundant, competitive energy resources (solar, wind, nuclear, and natural gas).

He emphasized that energy is the “fuel” for AI’s compute demands and tokenization, giving the UAE a structural advantage to lead in AI infrastructure, applications, and business at scale.

This is paired with a societal and economic transformation goal: embedding AI into every aspect of life to drive efficiency, accessibility, trust, and prosperity, while serving a massive regional market of ~2.5 billion people across Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, and Africa through infrastructure and connectivity investments. Sovereign capital (via Mubadala and related vehicles) provides the patience for 3–5+ year horizons, unlike short-term market pressures, enabling strategic bets on emerging technologies.

He highlighted the UAE’s current leadership: According to Microsoft’s AI Diffusion Report, the UAE ranked #1 globally in AI adoption at the end of 2025, with 64% of the population actively using AI (ahead of Singapore at 60%). This reflects a deliberate national positioning as an “early leader” in both adoption and enablement.

Strategy: Top-Down Leadership, User-Centric Integration, and Broad Societal Embrace

Khaldoon described a pragmatic, multi-layered strategy that starts at the top and permeates government, business, institutions, and society:

Government as Catalyst and Enabler
Forward-leaning policies and the highest global ranking in AI enablement. The government actively integrates AI to replace bureaucracy with instant, responsive services.

Societal Adoption Through Trusted, Accessible Tools
Widespread per-capita usage and cultural trust built via feedback loops (e.g., citizens reporting issues like potholes via AI and receiving rapid government responses). A flagship example is the TAMM app, an AI-powered “government agent” on citizens’ phones that delivers over 1,100 services (expanding to 1,300+), including:

• • Traffic fines
  • Healthcare appointments
  • School management
  • Business licenses
  • Municipal services

In emergencies, users can snap a photo of an injury; the AI identifies the nearest facility with the shortest wait time, the right specialist, and pre-notifies the hospital for seamless coordination.

Adoption is remarkably inclusive—even a 92-year-old with limited formal education uses it proficiently—because the strategy prioritizes user needs over technology push, with physical support for learning and rapid iteration based on real feedback. What was expected to take longer happened “in one year what takes others three,” per related UAE leadership sentiments echoed in the discussion.

1. Business and Institutional Buy-In – High willingness to adopt due to clear perceived benefits and competitive potential.
2. Energy + AI Synergy and Long-Term Investment – Leverage the UAE’s energy strengths to power AI at scale, while Mubadala deploys patient sovereign capital to invest in AI infrastructure, models, and global partnerships (including with Microsoft). This avoids the pitfalls of past disruptions by investing early in the next wave.
3. Cultural and Historical Discipline – Rooted in resilience, optimism, and generational wisdom: approach disruption with conviction that innovation unlocks opportunity when paired with discipline.

In summary, Khaldoon portrayed the UAE’s AI nation-building as a nation-wide, top-to-bottom transformation — government-led but societally embraced, energy-enabled, and future-proofed through patient capital and historical lessons.

The result is not just high adoption stats but tangible daily impact, positioning the UAE as a model for how smaller, ambitious nations can lead in the AI era by turning strengths (energy, agility, sovereign funding) into global competitive advantages.