UAE Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on Thursday announced the appointment of Omar Sultan Al-Olama as the country's first-ever Artificial Intelligence Minister. "The next global wave is artificial intelligence and we want the UAE to be more prepared for it," Al Maktoum said. The Gulf nation also introduced the post of Minister for Advanced Sciences.

The UAE on Thursday appointed Omar Bin Sultan as the country's first Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence as part of a cabinet reshuffle. Aged just 27, Sultan's appointment is part of the UAE's ambition to be at the forefront of the global technological revolution which sees it planning to be build homes on the planet Mars by 2117. The position was announced in a tweet by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Prime Minister and Vice President and ruler of Dubai who said: "The new Government is a Government for the new Emirati percentage. The move comes just days after Sheikh Mohammed announced the UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (AI), a major part of the UAE Centennial 2070 objectives. The initiative aims to improve government performance and create an innovative and highly-productive environment by means of investing in AI. Other new positions created in the reshuffle include a Minister for Advanced Sciences and another for Food Security, according to a series of tweets, written in Arabic. Sheikh Mohammed said: "The new Government is a Government for the new Emirati percentage.