Abu Dhabi has signed a series of landmark agreements with OpenAI spanning government operations, education, investment analysis and food safety, as the emirate pushes to become the world's first "AI-native" government. The deals were signed in the presence of Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.

Officials have earmarked Dh13 billion ($3.5 billion) for digital infrastructure under the 2025-2027 Digital Strategy, which they expect to add more than Dh24 billion to Abu Dhabi's economy by 2027 and create over 5,000 jobs.

As part of the government push, 20,000 Abu Dhabi civil servants will be trained to use AI tools through the AiNative programme, while a new "Machine-Readable Government" initiative is converting official policy into formats AI systems can process directly. A pilot with the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority is already running.

On education, 22,000 teaching staff are set to receive AI training, with artificial intelligence curricula being rolled out across schools. Separately, Mubadala and Inception42 signed a five-year agreement with OpenAI to apply AI to investment analysis.

Altman said at the signing that "Abu Dhabi and the UAE are setting a bold, global standard for AI integration." Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE, also attended related events tied to the announcement.

The agreements extend Abu Dhabi's multi-year push to embed AI across public services, building on earlier investments through G42 and Mubadala in global AI infrastructure.