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Dubai Has Launched An AI-Powered Digital Concierge
The new platform answers questions from residents and visitors about tourism, entertainment, aviation, healthcare, and education.
The United Arab Emirates is home to several cutting-edge AI initiatives, with Dubai already using the tech to power a smart police station and part of its healthcare system.
With the Emirate’s AI sector projected to make up 20% of the country’s GDP over the next decade, Dubai is rapidly becoming a global artificial intelligence hub. Now, forward-thinking government officials from the Dubai Digital project have launched a new AI-powered “digital concierge” system offering residents and visitors a wide range of services and information.
The AI-powered interactive concierge will be continuously updated with data from official sources. Acting as a personal digital assistant for users, queries can be answered in real-time, with a personalized, interactive dialogue presenting accurate results.
Users of the new platform can field questions about 15 sectors, including tourism, healthcare, entertainment, education, and aviation. Although functionally similar to tools like ChatGPT, Dubai AI is specifically trained to provide detailed information about the city.
During Wednesday’s Dubai Assembly for Generative AI, the Chief Executive of the Digital Dubai Government Establishment, Matar Al Hemeiri, described the new platform as a “unified, seamless channel” and shared plans to expand the service across the public and private sectors.
Meanwhile, Khalfan Belhoul, CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation, called for innovation to harmonize emerging technologies with government policy at a time when AI business opportunities are said to be worth nearly $4.5 trillion.
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“Regulation is extremely important. We need to understand how we can regulate something as big as generative AI. But we need to get started now and look at the challenges and understand the risks,” Belhoul noted.
The CEO of Dubai’s Future Foundation was also keen to explain that developing AI and maximizing its potential could result in GCC countries enjoying over $23 billion in related economic benefits by 2030.
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Samsung And Spotify Offer Free Premium Deal In MENA
Nearly seven in ten streams in the region come from 18-to-34-year-olds — the audience Samsung is hoping to entice into its ecosystem.
Samsung has announced a partnership with Spotify spanning the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye, bundling Spotify Premium with select devices across its ecosystem. The headline offer — up to four months of Premium for free — is a first for the region.
Customers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Türkiye who buy any OLED or 98-inch television, or any Galaxy S or Z series mobile device, get four months of Spotify Premium. The offer, tiered by market and device, is available at retail and on Samsung.com, and redeemed through the Samsung Promotion and Samsung Members apps.
For Samsung, the strategy is less about free music than about lock-in. The Korean tech giant’s pitch is continuity: a track starts on a Galaxy smartphone through Galaxy Buds on the commute, moves to a Samsung TV and soundbar in the living room, and stays controllable from a Galaxy Watch. The more seamlessly music travels between those devices, the harder it becomes to swap any one of them for a rival’s.
“Technology should bring people closer to the things they love, and few things connect people the way music does,” said Omar Saheb, Regional VP of Marketing and Online Business at Samsung Electronics MENA. The partnership, he added, gives customers “a genuine reason to choose Samsung for the experience, not only the product”.
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For subscribers, Premium brings the usual package: ad-free listening, offline downloads, richer audio quality on Galaxy Buds and Samsung sound devices, and Jam, which lets friends build a shared queue.
“At Spotify, we are always working to make every listening moment feel more personal, meaningful, and worth it,” said Rami Jamal, Head of Partnerships at Spotify for South Asia, Middle East, and Africa.
The demographics go a long way to explaining the strategy. Across MENA, Türkiye, and Pakistan, nearly seven in ten Spotify streams come from listeners aged 18 to 34, according to the company — precisely the audience Samsung wants inside its hardware ecosystem before buying habits harden.
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