The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has adopted the use of Smart Dubai's Ethical AI Toolkit. It reports using it for 13 artificial intelligence (AI) use cases across various departments, registering an average performance rate of almost 90 per cent on complying with the principles and guidelines set out. Smart Dubai developed the toolkit to set clear guidelines on the ethical use of AI to prevent having a fragmented, incoherent approach to ethics, where every entity sets its own rules. Dewa's use of the toolkit was spread across several different departments. The Innovation & the Future (I&TF) division's use cases included outage planning and load forecasting, solar power generation forecasting, network design and area planning, visual inspection on solar photovoltaics and the virtual assistant Rammas.

In January of 2019 Smart Dubai launched the city's official principles and guidelines for the ethical implementation of AI. What truly makes Dubai's approach to AI unique is our city-government launched AI Ethics Self-Assessment Toolkit – which allows anyone implementing AI to self-assess their performance against a set of criteria which when taken together assure an ethical approach. The process uses the data from the toolkit to create a positive feedback loop with those using and developing AI. Express Computer spoke to H.E. Younus Al Nasser, Assistant Director General, Smart Dubai and CEO, Smart Dubai Data. What potential do you see in AI for governance and happiness?

IQPC Middle East's second Artificial Intelligence Week was hosted at the Oberoi Hotel Dubai and organized with the official support of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi. Inaugurated by Sheikha Maryam Al Qasimi, Government Relations and Protocol Specialist for Lead Ventures at The Office of Sheikh Sultan bin Abdullah Al Qasimi, and Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, Divisional Senior Vice President International Affairs at Emirates, the event saw participation from influential and leading organizations including the Prime Minister's Office, Dubai Healthcare City Authority – Regulation (DCHR), UAE's Ministry of Health and Prevention, Smart Dubai, ING, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Al Zahra Hospitals, Saudi Aramco, King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology, and many more. Knowing the central role AI plays, the Department of Health -- Abu Dhabi (DoH), the regulator of the healthcare sector in the Emirate, has been the first entity in the MENA region to pursue and launch an artificial intelligence policy for the healthcare sector. Dr. Hamed Al Hashemi, Director, Strategy Division at Department of Health, Abu Dhabi said: "In utilizing tech-based solutions like AI we can build a future-proof healthcare system. These systems are capable of providing more efficient, safe and evidence-based quality of care while forging ahead with bringing new, innovative ways of healthcare services delivery."

Adding cognitive abilities to a machine may appear to many as the background plot of every science-fiction movie, however, the debate around the future and limitations of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has unquestionably existed for decades in the world of computer automation systems, especially with AI being a rapidly growing trend in emergent technologies. AI algorithms are already in use in modern society and making human life easier; technologies such as voice recognition, car navigation systems, chatbots, social networking, purchase suggestions, robotics in healthcare, and many more, rely on these algorithms to perform the task they were specifically designed to accomplish. So far, these technologies are considered positive by various smart tech enthusiasts who believe that AI can be even further developed for the greater good. However, the question many of the wary poses is: will researchers and scientists proceed in developing artificial intelligence technologies to the point where humans lose the ability to understand and control the functioning of a super-intelligent machine? Although we are still too far from creating an AI technology that surpasses the capacity of the human brain, the current discussion mostly focuses on ethics, morality, and limitations.

Dubai: Artificial Intelligence-powered services, such as customer call management system and drone-based statistician, will be showcased at Smart Dubai's pavilion of 59 government and private establishments at the GITEX Technology Week 2018, which begins on Sunday. Running till Thursday at Dubai World Trade Centre, GITEX will feature the establishments exhibiting their latest smart services to the public. Dr Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, director general of Smart Dubai Office, said: "Since its inception, Smart Dubai has been on a mission to implement the vision of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to transform Dubai into a full-fledged smart city and make it one of the happiest in the world. His Highness has also called on all stakeholders across the public and private sectors to work together and strive towards that ambitious objective. We at Smart Dubai have forged numerous partnerships as we progress towards our goals, and are delighted that these partners – be they government entities, private organisations, or start-ups – are joining us [at GITEX] to showcase their advanced smart services created for the people and the community."

"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.

DUBAI – Blockchain, together with artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and virtual and augmented reality, have the potential to deliver disruptive outcomes and reshape digital business in 2018. And companies that have not started the digital investment cycle are at high risk of being disrupted. This is according to the list of top IT predictions for 2018 published Saturday by Dimension Data. But the top trend for the coming year is the adoption of Blockchain - the technology behind Bitcoin - and its immense potential to disrupt and transform the world of money, business, and society using a variety of applications. Ettienne Reinecke, Dimension Data's Group Chief Technology Officer, said Blockchain has gone from strength to strength.