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UAE: How artificial intelligence will help smoothen government operations

Dubai - Ultimate goal of AI is to increase the value of the work, cut the cost, and save time: Director of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence at Government of Abu Dhabi.

Artificial intelligence (AI) will smoothen the government operations and also accelerate the pace of developments of all the governments as AI’s role increases and becomes more mainstream, say public and private executives.

“It’s going to be interesting how artificial intelligence will react on smoothing the governments challenges through adopting the behaviours and with creative model. The ultimate goal of AI is to increase the value of the work, cut the cost, and save time. Therefore, it will accelerate the pace of the developments in all governments,” said Dr. Ebrahim Al Alkeem Al Zaabi, director of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence at Government of Abu Dhabi.

A study by Oliver Wyman, a global management consulting firm, has estimated that the efficiencies generated by AI technology can support Middle Eastern government budgets by up to $7 billion (Dh25.7 billion) annually.

“Due to the breadth and depth of data availability across sectors and on the citizen-level, AI and other related technologies have the potential to solve many finance and revenue problems that governments face, while driving impact,” said Manuel Abat, partner in the digital and CMT practice at Oliver Wyman.

Dr. Ebrahim Al Alkeem Al Zaabi is one of the keynote speakers at the Artelligence forum, organised by Khaleej Times, on Monday, September 13, 2021. A number of well-known senior industry executives from the AI sector will speak at the virtual forum to highlight the opportunities and challenges in the new-age technologies, especially artificial intelligence. Among the attendees include ministers, CEOs, chief digital officers, chief operations officers and AI specialists.

The role of AI has also been increasing in terms of improving safety and security of the people and transparency in the government roles.

A survey of 21 countries conducted by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) has revealed that more than half of UAE residents – 51 per cent – believe that the impact of AI on their rights as an individual is positive – such as safety and personal security, and levels of fairness, choice and transparency.

Helen Brand, chief executive of ACCA says AI adoption must consider the needs of all, especially the under-represented and vulnerable in society.

“That’s why one of our recommendations is to ensure the profession exercises its professional judgement, because AI may create previously unseen situations. We recommend that professional accountants need to avoid over-reliance on simplistic checklist-based approaches which don’t give the full picture or leave space for unintended consequences.’

waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com