Dubai aims to become a hot bed for artificial intelligence (AI) innovation. The city has invested billions of dollars to realise those ambitions. Over the years, the Gulf metropolis has unveiled a string of programmes to attract startups and established companies to set up shop in the city. On paper, those initiatives have born fruit. Capital is flowing into the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in general and into Dubai in particular.

As part of ongoing efforts to diversify their economies and build a platform for sustainable future growth, MENA nations are increasingly turning towards artificial intelligence (AI). A slew of recent investment and initiatives – primarily in academia and the government, but also in the private sector – has reinvigorated interest from industry leaders around the globe in the potential for AI to strengthen the efficiency and sustainability of MENA economies. According to a report from the Economist Impact Unit (EIU) and Google published earlier this year, AI could bring about an additional $320bn in economic growth in the MENA region by 2030. Many long-term economic strategies in the region target high-value sectors with the potential to benefit from the Fourth Industrial Revolution – a raft of technological advancements in AI, data and cloud computing that merge the physical, digital and biological worlds. In recent years the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt have published ambitious, government-driven strategies to develop AI.

Iran-backed Yemeni fighters launched drone strikes on the United Arab Emirates that caused explosions and a deadly fire outside the capital, Abu Dhabi, ratcheting up security risks in the major oil-exporting region at a critical time. One of the biggest attacks to date on UAE soil ignited a fire at Abu Dhabi's main international airport on Monday and set fuel tanker trucks ablaze in a nearby industrial area. It took place days after Yemen's Houthi fighters warned Abu Dhabi against intensifying its air campaign against them. Crude extended gains to the highest level in seven years on Tuesday after the assaults in the UAE, OPEC's third biggest oil producer. Iran's longtime support of the Houthis means the incidents could roil regional diplomatic efforts to ease frictions and separate talks to restore Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. A possible drone attack may have sparked an explosion that struck three oil tankers in Abu Dhabi and another fire at an extension of Abu Dhabi International Airport on Monday that killed three people and wounded six, police said. Abu Dhabi police identified the dead as two Indian nationals and one Pakistani. It did not identify the wounded, who police said suffered minor or moderate wounds.

The UAE is an early adopter of advanced technology, and artificial intelligence is no exception. Along with Genomic Medicine and Biometrics, the UAE is pioneering AI use within and alongside other advanced technologies, stemming from the government's work in activating their strategy for Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). We are seeing exciting developments in augmented learning, personalised medicine, economic security (such as blockchain technology), smart cities, government e-services, 3D printing, and even space exploration. It's no secret that Dubai is earmarked to be a leading smart city, with investment into numerous technologies to set it on that course, and a stated aim by the UAE Government to make it a leading global hub and an open lab for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The speed at which it is being implemented is almost unparalleled, and the opportunities that sit alongside that are vast.

Technology experts have stressed the need for schools to prepare students for tomorrow's jobs by increasingly teaching them artificial intelligence (AI) skills to an adequate level. Necip Ozyucel, Cloud and Enterprise Business Group Lead, Microsoft Gulf, said the latest World Economic Forum's'Future of Jobs' report, released in January this year showed that two in three children starting school this year are destined for professional roles yet to be created. "There is an urgent need to recognise that many of the jobs referred to by the World Economic Forum, are supported by artificial intelligence," Ozyucel told Khaleej Times in an exclusive interview. A recent survey by McKinsey & Company on specialist education practice - where 2,000 students, 2,000 teachers and 70 thought leaders across the Americas, Europe and Asia including the Gulf region were interviewed - found that students would be better prepared for'future jobs' if they shored up their soft skills, particularly the social and emotional. And only 42 per cent of employers consider today's graduates as having developed those attributes to an adequate level, according to Ozyucel, "When trying to determine the best approaches to bridge these soft-skills gaps, there is evidence in both studies that students and teachers alike favour collaborative learning scenarios. Mentor-led class discussions or group-learning scored consistently high as the most effective methods of learning," said Ozyucel.

The Cabinet has adopted the formation of the'UAE Council for Artificial Intelligence' to ensure the implementation of these technologies in various sectors. The move aims to serve the UAE Government's objectives, and improve the quality of life of citizens and residents in order to achieve the vision of the UAE 2021 and make the UAE one of the best countries in the world by 2071. The council's formation is a reaffirmation of the UAE Government's keenness to move forward in the use of artificial intelligence and its applications in various fields to improve government performance and create innovative work environments to accelerate the development projects. The formation of the council follows the appointment of a Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence in the recent formation of the UAE Cabinet, the launch of the UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence and the UAE Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The council will study and identify the government sectors where artificial intelligence technology can be incorporated and make recommendations for the development of related infrastructure, in addition to the integration of artificial intelligence in different stages of education.

In October 2017, the UAE Government launched'UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (AI)'. This marks the post-mobile government phase which will rely on various future services, sectors and infrastructure projects.