The International Affairs Office at the UAE Presidential Court has launched Zayed, an AI-powered digital spokesperson designed to communicate the Office's priorities, initiatives, and international engagements. It is not a chatbot bolted onto a website. It is being positioned as a full communication platform, built to deliver real-time, interactive updates across digital channels. The launch fits into a broader pattern of UAE institutions adopting AI for public-facing roles, something we have been tracking closely in our Technology section.
Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, who heads the International Affairs Office, framed the launch as part of a longer-term vision rather than a one-off experiment. She said the UAE's progress in artificial intelligence is rooted in a strategy that treats innovation as a way to strengthen human connection, not replace it. Zayed, in that framing, is meant to make institutional communication feel more accessible and more current, especially for younger audiences who consume information very differently than they did a decade ago.
Zayed sits inside the UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031, the national plan that aims to embed AI across government services and strategic sectors. The same week Zayed launched, Dubai Municipality rolled out its own AI spokesperson, named Saeed, who communicates in Arabic, English, Urdu, and Chinese and handles everything from public announcements to internal staff updates. Together, the two launches point to a fast-moving trend across UAE institutions, one we cover in depth through our reporting on the UAE's new federal AI and data authority.
For businesses and investors watching the UAE's AI ecosystem, the significance is less about the avatar itself and more about what it signals. Government adoption of AI at this level, in public communication, in customer-facing roles, in internal operations, tends to pull the private sector along with it. When ministries and municipalities normalize AI-driven interfaces, it lowers the friction for companies building similar tools commercially, and it gives local AI vendors a visible reference case to point to.
There is also a trust dimension worth noting. As AI-generated content becomes harder to distinguish from human-made content, government institutions choosing to be transparent about using AI spokespeople, rather than quietly automating without disclosure, sets a notable precedent for how the technology gets introduced responsibly. That is increasingly relevant as deepfakes and synthetic media become a bigger concern across the region.
Officials say Zayed is expected to open up new ways to engage with audiences across generations and broaden the Office's reach through more dynamic, adaptable content formats. Whether that translates into measurable engagement gains will be the real test over the coming months, but the direction of travel for UAE public sector communication is now unmistakably digital and AI-led.
