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Face Recognition Tech Rolls Out In Abu Dhabi Hotels

The facial recognition technology will boost security and streamline guest check-ins, aligning with the UAE’s push toward digital innovation.

Published

2 years ago

April 29, 2025

Nour Nasir

face recognition tech rolls out in abu dhabi hotels

Abu Dhabi Media Office

Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT) has launched a new facial recognition system for hotels in the emirate, aiming to improve both guest experience and overall safety. The move is part of a broader effort to position Abu Dhabi as a global leader in secure, tech-forward hospitality.

Managed by DCT Abu Dhabi’s Licensing & Regulatory Compliance Department, this initiative supports the city’s long-standing reputation for safety — including holding the top spot in Numbeo’s Safety Index for nine years in a row.

Introduced during the Arabian Travel Market event, the technology focuses on making hotel check-ins faster and more efficient. It works by capturing biometric data during check-in, which is then securely encrypted and stored in a centralized database overseen by DCT Abu Dhabi. The data handling complies with UAE regulations around cybersecurity and personal privacy. According to the department, this information is strictly used to improve safety and streamline hotel operations.

H.E. Saleh Mohamed Al Geziry, Director General for Tourism at DCT Abu Dhabi, stated: “This initiative reflects our commitment to leveraging innovation to enhance the guest experience while maintaining the highest standards of safety and security for both guests and hospitality sector employees”.

Also Read: Dubai Integrates LiDAR & Digital Twins For Road Management

This is the first government project in the emirate to integrate facial recognition technology directly within hotel operations. The system is currently being piloted in select locations, with an initial focus on five-star properties in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, and Al Dhafra. A second rollout will bring the technology to four-star hotels, with further expansion planned down the line.

To ensure a smooth roll out, DCT Abu Dhabi is actively working with hotel operators — offering tech support, training, and detailed guidance. The aim is to increase operational efficiency while providing a modern, touchless check-in and check-out experience for guests.

This system is part of a broader agreement between DCT Abu Dhabi and the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP). The collaboration promotes digital innovation within tourism, including joint pilot projects, cybersecurity enhancements, and integrated data systems — all aligned with the UAE’s national digital transformation goals.

Related Topics:Abu Dhabi Facial Recognition

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ESET Bets On Specialized Security AI At 0.5% The Training Cost

ESET says NeoCortex can estimate an attacker’s next move, with a kill switch and human oversight built in to keep it from going rogue.

Published

5 days ago

November 4, 2026

Dana Saadeh

eset bets on specialized security ai at 0.5% the training cost

A sign-in anomaly, a suspicious process launch and an unusual connection may look harmless alone. Together, they can describe an intrusion that is hard for security to teams to piece together.

To solve that problem, ESET announced ESET NeoCortex on November 4, 2026: a specialized foundational AI model for cybersecurity. It powers ESET LiveCortex, available within the ESET PROTECT Platform, which connects fragmented security signals and turns them into actionable incidents.

Filtering is the main selling point, with LiveCortex processing billions of raw telemetry events daily, and just 0.00111% of them contributing to incidents presented to customers. The aim is less alert fatigue and more analyst time spent on threats that matter.

NeoCortex is built on world-model architecture, learning how digital environments behave and how events relate. ESET says that lets it reconstruct missing incident context, recognize similar past cases and estimate an attacker’s likely next step – what the company calls “minus-one-day defense,” a chance to intervene before the next stage unfolds. ESET points to Black October, the week leading up to October 25, 2026, when critical security issues affecting PHP, Linux, GitLab and other key systems demanded rapid, prioritized responses, as the kind of moment where that context matters.

ESET’s internal research also suggests a specialized model like NeoCortex can be trained at up to 200 times lower cost than a large general reasoning model, while delivering more accurate, defense-focused results. The company credits optimized training, a focus on cybersecurity vocabulary, lower computing requirements and privately owned hardware.

Also Read: Dubai Says Its Deepfake Detector Needs Just 7 Seconds Of Video

“AI is accelerating both cyberattacks and cyberdefenses. With ESET NeoCortex, we are applying our AI investment to develop specialized foundational cybersecurity intelligence that remains under our control and strengthens, rather than replaces, human expertise,” said Juraj Malcho, Chief Technology Officer at ESET.

As part of the design, NeoCortex forms part of a layered architecture combining specialized models, deterministic controls, correlation logic, validation, auditability and expert human oversight. Safeguards include restricted sandboxes, read-only tools, continuous monitoring, defined usage and token limits, a kill switch and human oversight of critical response decisions. The model is also developed and self-hosted on ESET’s own infrastructure, which the company says reduces exposure to shifts among third-party AI providers, including commercial and geopolitical ones.