Abu Dhabi Expands AI Drive, Deploys Copilot to 35,000 Civil Servants
The Copilot is the latest in the collaboration between DGE and Microsoft, spanning government cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity operations, AI-driven services, and modern workplace technologies.
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Abu Dhabi has unveiled one of its largest public-sector AI deployments yet, empowering thousands of government employees with generative AI in their daily work. The announcement joins a series of initiatives by the UAE government aimed at becoming the world’s first AI-native government by 2027.
Under the Frontier Employee Program, the government will deploy the AI assistant to 26,000 civil servants across 27 entities, building on 9,000 existing licenses to reach a total of 35,000.
With this, Abu Dhabi solidifies Microsoft 365 Copilot as the standard AI productivity platform to offer more responsive services for citizens, residents, and businesses.
“Abu Dhabi is building a government that is AI-native by design, where technology elevates how government entities operate, collaborate, and serve the community,” said Wesam Lootah, Director-General, GovDigital, the Department of Government Enablement (DGE).
By provisioning all licenses with Advanced Data Residency (ADR), all processes will operate within the country’s borders — well within the country’s sovereign AI deployment policy.
“The rollout of Microsoft 365 Copilot across government marks a significant step in equipping our workforce with advanced AI capabilities while ensuring adoption is governed, secure, and built to last. Through the Frontier Employee Program, we are empowering government employees with the tools and skills to shape the future of public sector innovation,” added Lootah.
Supported by an AI Adoption and Enablement framework, the deployment will be carried out through rigorous security, data governance, and readiness assessments to ensure alignment with government compliance and data protection standards.
“The UAE’s national direction toward agentic AI reflects a distinctive approach to government transformation, one built on a clear vision and decisive leadership. The Frontier Employee Program is an extension of that same approach: empowering 35,000 government employees across Abu Dhabi and scaling agentic AI to drive faster outcomes and more efficient processes across government,” said Amr Kamel, General Manager, Microsoft UAE.
The Copilot is the latest in the collaboration between DGE and Microsoft, spanning government cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity operations, AI-driven services, and modern workplace technologies. In March 2025, DGE signed agreements with Microsoft and Core42 to implement a sovereign cloud environment capable of processing more than 11 million daily digital interactions among its various parties.
