Abu Dhabi & OpenAI Launch Machine-Readable Government Initiative

The Abu Dhabi Government and OpenAI have launched Machine-Readable Government, a framework that converts selected policies and regulations into machine-readable rules so AI systems can assess routine cases and return decisions linked directly to the clauses behind them. Routine approvals that previously required days of manual review could be processed within minutes and around the clock.

The initiative is led and governed by the Department of Government Enablement – Abu Dhabi, with officials remaining responsible for final decisions and human judgement retained for complex cases. The framework is not intended to make autonomous decisions in high-stakes areas or cases materially affecting individual rights, eligibility or access to essential services.

The first pilot is already operating with the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority for food imports, in collaboration with G42 company Inception42. The system converts written policy into automated compliance checks, while structuring regulations in a common format can also help officials identify overlaps or conflicts between departments and test proposed rule changes before they are introduced.

AI processing for the system runs through OpenAI’s UAE inference residency, with computation taking place on GPUs in UAE data centres under local cybersecurity requirements. Abu Dhabi Government retains ownership of data generated through the system, which is not used to train AI models.

Machine-Readable Government forms part of the AED 13 billion Abu Dhabi Government Digital Strategy 2025–2027 and is set to integrate with TAMM, which brings together more than 1,200 public and private services. Planned applications include construction permits, business and freelance licensing, data access governance, HR compliance and procurement, with use cases currently active across 40 government entities.