The Department of Government Enablement – Abu Dhabi has continued its collaboration with Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan on a public engagement initiative aimed at preparing women across the UAE for an economy increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence. The second Al Yalsa majlis, hosted by Sheikha Shamma, who chairs Frontier25, The Climate Tribe, Aurora50, Alliances for Global Sustainability (AGS) and RESET MENA, focused on how women can participate confidently in an AI-driven future, with the discussion led by a senior official from the department itself.
Al Yalsa operates as a monthly series of gatherings open to women from across the UAE, designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas and solutions connected to the national agenda. Its stated themes include health, technology and innovation, sustainability and national identity. The format is built around hospitality, generosity and trust, and is intended to allow respectful discussion of societal and cultural matters among those present.
Her Excellency Dr Amna Al Mahri, Executive Director of GovTalent at the Department of Government Enablement, directed the session. Under her guidance, attendees were asked a central question: what would help them feel more confident using AI in their everyday lives? The discussion examined practical applications of the technology at home, in learning and at work, alongside the question of how privacy and personal data can be protected while using it.
Dr Amna made a point of lowering the barrier to entry. Women, she emphasised, do not need a technical background to begin engaging with AI. They can start from everyday needs, use the technology to save time and strengthen their capabilities, and explore new entrepreneurial opportunities, all while keeping human judgement and decision-making at the centre of how the tools are applied.
Meanwhile, contributions from the community added a practical dimension to the session. Moza Al Darmaki, an Emirati artist, offered insights as a community voice, and attendees described how they are already using AI to support their families through education, often learning about the technology’s capabilities from younger generations. They noted that schools are embracing the technology as part of this shift. In professional settings, women reported using AI to upskill themselves and to transform the competences of their teams.
Alongside these accounts of adoption, participants raised concerns that touch directly on questions of safeguards and responsible use. Data security and privacy emerged as prominent worries, with attendees highlighting the importance of training in how to protect personal information. The concern underscores a recurring theme in discussions of emerging technology: that capability-building and protective measures need to advance together if confidence in the tools is to grow.
The session closed on a note of measured pragmatism. Participants acknowledged that AI is now part of daily life and observed that the UAE has always been at the forefront of cutting-edge tools. At the same time, they stressed that it is vital to know when to use AI and when not to. Human skills, knowledge and development, they argued, should not stall or diminish because of reliance on the technology. Instead, AI should be used to add value and expand human abilities more efficiently, a framing that places individual judgement, rather than the technology itself, at the centre of the country’s approach.
The second majlis forms part of a broader pattern in which government bodies and civic platforms in Abu Dhabi work together to shape public readiness for technological change, pairing official leadership with community-level dialogue to test how national ambitions translate into everyday practice. Whether future sessions will extend this model of official-led engagement to other emerging technologies remains an open question.