Building the Foundation for an AI-Native Government
What does it take to become the world's first AI-native government?
For Abu Dhabi, which is on course to achieve this ambitious vision by 2027, it means more than adopting new technologies. It means fundamentally reimagining how government operates, how citizens, residents and businesses interact with public services, and how intelligence becomes embedded into every aspect of government decision-making and service delivery.
As the entity driving Abu Dhabi Government's ambitious vision to become the world's first AI-native government by 2027, the Department of Government Enablement (DGE) recognized that achieving this transformation required a cloud foundation capable of supporting AI at scale while maintaining the highest levels of trust, security, and sovereignty.
The Sovereignty Imperative
DGE's vision required access to the latest AI innovations and hyperscale cloud capabilities. However, it also introduced a critical challenge.
As AI adoption accelerated across government entities, DGE needed assurance that sensitive government information, citizen data, and government intellectual property remained protected and governed within UAE jurisdiction. The organization viewed every AI interaction, every dataset, and every token generated through AI systems as a government asset that required visibility, control, and accountability.
The challenge was balancing two priorities that many governments around the world continue to struggle with: gaining access to frontier AI technologies while maintaining sovereignty, data privacy, and compliance requirements.
For DGE, compromising on either was not an option.
To support its AI-native government strategy, DGE adopted Core42 Sovereign Public Cloud. Built on Microsoft Azure and enhanced with UAE-specific security and sovereignty controls, the platform enables government entities to leverage advanced AI and cloud services while maintaining visibility into how data is processed, where it resides, and how workloads align with national requirements.
Core42's Insight application and sovereignty framework, built around national cybersecurity and regulatory policies, helps government workloads remain compliant while benefiting from hyperscale cloud innovation.
Making AI-Native Government Possible
For DGE, Core42 Sovereign Public Cloud has become a critical enabler of Abu Dhabi’s AI-native government vision.
By removing the traditional trade-off between innovation and control, the platform enables government entities to access advanced cloud and AI capabilities while maintaining confidence in data privacy, security, and compliance.
This approach has helped accelerate AI adoption across government and support the expansion of AI-powered public services. One example is TAMM, Abu Dhabi's AI super app, which combines more than 1,150 public and private services in a single portal. With agentic AI features such as TAMM AutoGov – the world’s first AI public servant – it helps to proactively provide public services for citizens, residents and businesses and return millions of hours back to them.
Core42 Sovereign Public Cloud has also helped to provide the capabilities to pursue Abu Dhabi's ambitious AI agenda at scale. By establishing sovereignty as a foundation, DGE has been able to focus on enabling innovation, improving user experiences, and transforming government operations.
The Future is AI-Native
The vision is a future where government services become increasingly proactive, intelligent, and seamless. A future where AI helps eliminate administrative complexity, empowers employees to focus on higher-value work, and enables every person to spend more time focusing on what matters most, and less time navigating government systems.
With Core42 Sovereign Public Cloud as its foundation, Abu Dhabi is taking significant steps toward making that vision a reality.
As governments around the world explore how to harness the power of AI, Abu Dhabi's experience demonstrates that access to advanced AI capabilities and strong national controls can coexist. Together, they create the foundation for AI-driven transformation at scale.