# United Arab Emirates

- **Record type**: Jurisdiction profile
- **Short name**: UAE
- **ISO code**: AE
- **Type**: country
- **Region**: Asia / Western Asia

## In brief

The United Arab Emirates has 4 recorded AI policy instruments, 1 of them binding and 1 in force. No binding federal AI law; national AI strategy and ethics guidance in place; binding personal-data rules at federal level and in the DIFC and ADGM free zones. Next dated milestone: Strategy horizon on 31 December 2031.

## Overview

The United Arab Emirates governs AI mainly through national strategy and principles rather than a dedicated AI statute. The UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031, overseen by the Minister of State for AI, sets the direction; the AI Ethics Principles and Guidelines and the 2024 UAE Charter for the Development and Use of AI set out expectations; and the Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on Personal Data Protection provides binding rules for personal data, including automated decision-making. Financial free zones (DIFC and ADGM) have their own data-protection regimes with specific provisions on autonomous and semi-autonomous systems.

## Regulatory status

No binding federal AI law; national AI strategy and ethics guidance in place; binding personal-data rules at federal level and in the DIFC and ADGM free zones. A reviewer must confirm the current status of any AI-specific regulation announced by the UAE's regulatory intelligence office or the Regulations Lab.

## What is binding and what is guidance

Binding: Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 (PDPL) and its executive regulations when issued, DIFC Data Protection Law and Regulation 10 (autonomous systems), ADGM Data Protection Regulations, sector rules (Central Bank, TDRA). Guidance: National AI Strategy 2031, AI Ethics Principles and Guidelines, UAE AI Charter, AI adoption guidelines.

## Current priorities

AI adoption across government, AI in education, sovereign compute and models, a regulatory framework through the Regulations Lab, and international AI partnerships.

## Regulators

- Office of the Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications — National AI strategy and governance — https://ai.gov.ae/
- UAE Data Office — Federal personal data protection — https://u.ae/en/about-the-uae/digital-uae/data/data-protection
- DIFC Commissioner of Data Protection — DIFC data protection, including autonomous systems regulation — https://www.difc.ae/

## How to use this profile

- Apply the federal PDPL and, where relevant, DIFC or ADGM data-protection rules to AI using personal data.
- Align governance with the UAE AI Ethics Principles and the AI Charter when working with government entities.
- Track announcements from the Minister of State for AI office and the Regulations Lab for AI-specific rules.

## Official sources

- UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031 — UAE Government, Office of the Minister of State for AI — https://ai.gov.ae/
- Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on Personal Data Protection — UAE Government portal — https://u.ae/en/about-the-uae/digital-uae/data/data-protection

## Instruments recorded for this jurisdiction (4)

- **Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data (UAE PDPL)** — Act / statute, In force, binding
  - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/uae-personal-data-protection-law
  - Context file: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/uae-personal-data-protection-law.md
- **The UAE Charter for the Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence** — Guidance, Guidance, non-binding
  - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/uae-the-uae-charter-for-the-development-and-use-of-artificial-intelligence
  - Context file: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/uae-the-uae-charter-for-the-development-and-use-of-artificial-intelligence.md
- **UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031** — National strategy, Adopted, non-binding
  - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/uae-national-ai-strategy-2031
  - Context file: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/uae-national-ai-strategy-2031.md
- **UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (UAE National Strategy for AI 2031)** — National strategy, Adopted, non-binding
  - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/uae-uae-strategy-for-artificial-intelligence
  - Context file: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/uae-uae-strategy-for-artificial-intelligence.md

## Provenance

- **Record page**: https://aipolicytracker.org/jurisdictions/uae
- **Official source**: https://ai.gov.ae/
- **Source document**: UAE Artificial Intelligence — official portal
- **Published by**: UAE Government
- **Provision**: Document-level URLs to be confirmed by reviewer
- **Review status**: verified
- **Confidence**: medium
- **Facts last confirmed**: 2026-09-26
- **Confirmed by**: Bhaskar Bhatt (see https://aipolicytracker.org/reviewers)
- **Retrieved**: 2026-10-27
- **Licence**: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

> This record is a structured summary with a link to the official text. It is not legal advice. Open the official source before relying on any date or duty. How current each record type must be is published at https://aipolicytracker.org/verification; what a record must carry at all is published at https://aipolicytracker.org/coverage.