AI Laws in United Arab Emirates

The UAE leads on AI strategy rather than binding AI legislation: it appointed the world's first Minister of State for AI in 2017 and runs the National Strategy for AI 2031. There is no federal AI Act, so AI obligations flow from data-protection law — Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 (the PDPL), overseen by the UAE Data Office, plus the financial-free-zone regimes DIFC (whose Data Protection Law No. 5 of 2020 has specific rules on autonomous and automated decision-making) and ADGM. Emirate-level instruments such as Dubai's 2024 Charter for the Development and Use of AI add voluntary ethics principles. Businesses should treat the PDPL and free-zone laws as the enforceable baseline while AI-specific rules remain policy.