The Smart City Is Closer Than You Think

"Today, in the era of Big Data, it is essential to have a central platform to house all of the government's data, a platform that taps into the potential of artificial intelligence to spread happiness among the people." A tech disruptor at a conference looking to tout the revolutionary capabilities of AI in hopes of attracting a public-private partnership? One of the many bloggers with a utopian take on the power of the cloud, AI, and smart cities? No, it was Crown Prince Shaikh Hamdan of Dubai. Dubai, a United Arab Emirates city with a population of nearly 3 million, is deploying the Dubai Pulse platform as part of its effort to turn Dubai into a smart city--and to promote "happiness among the people." Dubai Pulse is a cloud-based infrastructure accessible via smartphone.