UAE to Introduce AI Education Across All Public Schools
The United Arab Emirates will begin rolling out AI education across its public schools from the 2025-26 academic year, as the country intensifies its push to become a regional leader in advanced technology.
Under the AI curriculum, which will run across all levels of schools, from kindergarten through grade 12, the plan is to have both the theory that forms the building blocks and the practical applications of AI. Ethical considerations of using AI will also form part of the program.
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A Strategic Step Toward Global AI Leadership
By integrating AI into early education, the UAE joins a growing list of nations aiming to equip younger generations with tech-forward skills. Just last month, China’s capital city, Beijing, revealed plans to incorporate AI learning into its own primary and secondary school programs.
UAE officials view education as a key pillar in their national AI strategy. The country has already poured resources into building AI infrastructure, including large-scale data centers for model training. It has also created a dedicated AI investment fund, which, according to sources familiar with the matter, could grow to over $100 billion in the near future.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, previously described the UAE as a potential “regulatory sandbox” for testing cutting-edge AI technologies. He suggested that the nation could one day help shape global policies and standards in the sector.
International Dynamics and Investment Ambitions
As part of its larger AI strategy, the UAE has pledged to invest as much as $1.4 trillion in the course of the next decade in sectors like energy, semiconductors, and AI-related production in the United States. Those efforts are components of a large-scale economic and technological partnership between the two nations.
In a companion development, the US government is said to be weighing relaxing existing restrictions on Nvidia chip sales to the UAE. Analysts consider this would significantly boost the UAE's competitiveness in the regional AI race. The move is said to be expected before Donald Trump's visit to the Middle East in mid-May, which also includes Saudi Arabia and Qatar stops.
