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UAE Reveals New AI Government Services Chatbot
The new system, called U-Ask, will revolutionize how citizens interact with government departments.
The UAE has announced an exciting new AI-based addition to its government portal in the form of a powerful chatbot called “U-Ask” that works in both Arabic and English.
Generative AI technology allows the chatbot to offer an array of helpful information and guidance for any government-related query, even giving tailored information based on a user’s preferences and allowing direct links to application forms.
By integrating various government concerns, the chatbot will become a vital tool in enhancing efficiency and streamlining processes as the UAE Government further improves its digital systems.
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Chief of Government Services, Mohamed bin Taliah, noted that the U-Ask chatbot offers easy and flexible access to government services with a user-friendly interface, for a smooth and simplified experience. The support service offered by U-Ask will be available 24/7 and confirms the UAE’s reputation for providing extremely efficient government services.
The U-Ask platform was developed in collaboration with PwC Middle East and Microsoft and represents a giant leap forward in harnessing AI to improve government services.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
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The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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