How the Iran war impacts Abu Dhabi's AI strategy
Key takeaways
- Abu Dhabi's ambitions to turn the UAE into a global hub for digital infrastructure and AI, dubbed "UAE AI Strategy 2031," face pressure after the war with Iran.
- Only six years later, Al Olama was listed on TIME magazine's inaugural TIME100 AI list and Abu Dhabi was well underway in implementing its digital strategy.
- The news magazine The Conversation reportedthat the war also raised questions about the safety of undersea cables which are essential for data centers and other digital infrastructure.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Abu Dhabi's ambitions to turn the UAE into a global hub for digital infrastructure and AI, dubbed "UAE AI Strategy 2031," face pressure after the war with Iran. But the UAE is also known for its business resilience.
https://p.dw.com/p/5G7Cq The United Arab Emirates strive to become a global hub for AI but the war in Iran has impacted the strategy Image: Olaf Schuelke/IMAGOAdvertisement When the United Arab Emirates appointed Omar Sultan Al Olama as the world's first minister of state for Artificial Intelligence in 2017, he promised to turn the UAE into the world's most prepared country for artificial intelligence. Only six years later, Al Olama was listed on TIME magazine's inaugural TIME100 AI list and Abu Dhabi was well underway in implementing its digital strategy.
However, after the United States and Israel attacked Iran in February 2026, the UAE became one of Iran's key targets: Over the course of the war, thousands of Iranian missile and drone strikes were aimed at local offices and data centers operated by global companies such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Nvidia.