His Excellency Omar Sultan, the State Minister of the UAE for artificial intelligence, digital economy, and remote work applications, emphasized the rapid growth seen in the global industrial artificial intelligence market, clearly reflecting the important role of the artificial intelligence sector as a driving force for the future. He pointed out that UAE leaders have a deep understanding of the importance of adopting and developing the capabilities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and enhancing investment in the technology and artificial intelligence sector, which impacts various global industries.
This came within a session titled “Is Artificial Intelligence a Driver of the Fourth Industrial Revolution?” as part of the events of the 54th session of the World Economic Forum. Participating in this session were His Excellency Omar Sultan the Scientist, Cristiano Amon, President of Qualcomm, Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture Ireland and a member of the World Economic Forum Board of Trustees, and Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO of IBM. This session was moderated by Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief of The Economist magazine.
He said, “By providing effective platforms for meaningful international dialogue, such as the World Economic Forum, global efforts are integrated to enhance governments’ readiness in future sectors and support their efforts in developing solutions and tools that help progress towards the future. It emphasizes the importance of international cooperation in identifying current and future challenges and opportunities and laying the groundwork to address them.”
The author says that the decisions we make today will impact the lives of future generations, and that the integration of governments’ roles and keeping pace with global changes is essential to enhance their prosperity and contribution to shaping a more advanced and interconnected future. The author also points out that the role of governments and leaders lies in designing innovative strategies to address the impacts of technology and ensure adaptation to rapid developments.
He stressed that he is keen on enhancing international cooperation and purposeful partnerships with technology companies worldwide to ensure benefiting from the positive outcomes of technology and addressing its potential negatives. He works on creating a supportive environment to expedite the adoption of industrial artificial intelligence solutions, given its role as a fundamental technological sector in achieving the state’s ambitious goals and the positive potential it holds for various institutions and companies.
He indicated that the UAE has tremendous capabilities, hosting more than 200 nationalities, making it ideal for developing global-level artificial intelligence applications in various fields such as healthcare, education, and others, due to our continuous development and enhancement of these sectors. There is also advanced digital infrastructure in the country and flexible legislative frameworks that boost the growth of technology companies choosing the UAE as a destination to develop their digital businesses.
Developing Digital Skills:
He said, “Advancing industrial artificial intelligence requires focusing on improving digital skills and establishing a digital professional community capable of adapting to technological changes. The UAE is very interested in keeping up with global developments, studying their challenges and opportunities. The UAE government has trained over 400 officials and decision-makers in government entities on digital skills, ethics, foundations, and the nature of artificial intelligence, in cooperation with Oxford University, in a purposeful initiative to enhance awareness in government entities and society and ensure comprehensive adoption of digital technology in various entities.”
He added that the UAE annually celebrates a special day for coding, called the “UAE Coding Day” on October 29th, to honor programmers in the UAE, including initiatives and events aimed at encouraging the community to acquire coding skills as the language of the future.
He pointed out that the UAE Coding Day has engaged over 100,000 individuals from the UAE community in writing code, as part of a purposeful initiative to enhance digital awareness and encourage individuals to start their digital journey and excel in future fields.
The session focused on the impact of smart technology:
During a meeting organized as part of the initiatives of the Artificial Intelligence Governance Committee of the World Economic Forum, the discussion centered on the advancement of artificial intelligence and the transformation of smart technology into one of the fastest and most impactful innovations in the Fourth Industrial Revolution across various sectors from creativity to production and distribution. It forecasted the expected effects of artificial intelligence on global value chains, which will mimic the impact of the steam engine in advancing the industrial revolution in the past century.
The session emphasized the importance of developing digital skills in anticipating the future and the impact of artificial intelligence progress on global industry, as well as the available solutions for governments and leaders to tackle their diverse challenges.
