Post by : Badri Ariffin

The Abu Dhabi Government has announced the expansion of Microsoft 365 Copilot across its public sector, providing generative AI tools to tens of thousands of government employees. The initiative is part of the emirate's plan to become the world's first AI-native government by 2027.

Under the Frontier Employee Programme, Microsoft 365 Copilot has recently been deployed to 26,000 civil servants working across 27 government entities. Combined with the 9,000 licences already in use, the total number of Microsoft 365 Copilot licences across the government has now reached 35,000.

The rollout establishes Microsoft 365 Copilot as the standard AI productivity platform for Abu Dhabi Government, bringing generative AI capabilities into everyday government operations and public service delivery. The government says AI-assisted decision-making is expected to help deliver faster and more responsive services for citizens, residents, and businesses.

AI Processing Remains Within the UAE

Every Microsoft 365 Copilot licence provided through the programme includes Advanced Data Residency (ADR). This ensures that all AI processing takes place within the UAE, supporting a sovereign AI deployment model that is attracting growing international interest.

The programme also includes AI training and certification to help employees use the technology responsibly, securely, and effectively in their daily work.

Government Highlights AI-First Vision

His Excellency Wesam Lootah, Director General of GovDigital at the Department of Government Enablement (DGE), said: "Abu Dhabi is building a government that is AI-native by design, where technology elevates how government entities operate, collaborate, and serve the community. The rollout of Microsoft 365 Copilot across government marks a significant step in equipping our workforce with advanced AI capabilities, whilst ensuring adoption is governed, secure, and built to last. Through the Frontier Employee Programme, we are empowering government employees with the tools and skills to shape the future of public sector innovation."

Microsoft Supports Government Transformation

Amr Kamel, General Manager of Microsoft UAE, said: "The UAE's national direction toward Agentic AI reflects a distinctive approach to government transformation, one built on a clear vision and decisive leadership. The Frontier Employee Programme is an extension of that same approach: empowering 35,000 government employees across Abu Dhabi and scaling agentic AI to drive faster outcomes and more efficient processes across government. At Microsoft, our role is to provide the secure, sovereign foundations that enable transformation of this kind, and we are proud to support DGE's leadership in bringing it to life."

Framework Supports Secure AI Adoption

The Frontier Employee Programme is backed by an AI Adoption and Enablement framework that includes structured deployment, change management, and user training. The framework is designed to encourage safe, secure, and effective AI adoption across government entities.

Before deployment, the programme also undergoes security, data governance, and readiness assessments to ensure compliance with government data protection and security standards.

Long-Term Partnership Between DGE and Microsoft

The Microsoft 365 Copilot deployment is the latest step in the long-standing partnership between the Department of Government Enablement (DGE) and Microsoft. Their collaboration covers government cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, AI-powered services, and modern workplace technologies.

In March 2025, DGE signed an agreement with Microsoft and Core42 to establish a sovereign cloud environment capable of processing more than 11 million digital interactions every day between Abu Dhabi Government entities, citizens, residents, and businesses. The infrastructure is designed to support the emirate's AI-native government strategy.

AI Powers More Government Services

Abu Dhabi's AI-powered government services platform, TAMM, also uses Microsoft technologies including Dynamics 365, Power BI, and Azure. The platform currently offers more than 1,150 public and private services through a single digital platform.

Microsoft and DGE have also strengthened their cybersecurity partnership to help protect Abu Dhabi's digital government systems. Their collaboration includes the central Government Security Operations Centre (GSOC), which is built on Microsoft Sentinel and Defender XDR. The centre supports around 60,000 users and tens of thousands of government workloads.

AI Factory to Expand Government Automation

Abu Dhabi is also developing an AI Factory capability to support the creation and expansion of AI-powered solutions, use cases, and intelligent agents across government.

The initiative aims to develop hundreds of AI use cases and deploy more than 1,000 AI agents across the public sector. These agents will assist with tasks such as document processing, constituent query handling, policy analysis, and workflow automation, supporting Abu Dhabi's goal of becoming the world's first AI-native government by 2027.

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