UAE to Run Half Its Government on Autonomous AI in Two Years — Germany Is Still Married to the Fax Machine
In the time it takes a Munich BĂĽrgeramt to stamp your Anmeldung, the UAE just hit the accelerator on the future.
On April 23, 2026, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced the UAE will shift 50% of government sectors, services, and operations to Agentic AI within two years. These aren’t chatbots. They’re self-directed systems that analyse, decide, execute, and self-improve in real time. “AI is no longer a tool,” the Vice President and Prime Minister declared. “It will become our executive partner.” Every federal employee gets mandatory AI training. A high-level taskforce under Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed and Mohammad Al Gergawi is driving it. Goal: make the UAE the first country to run government at this autonomous scale.
Fast, decisive, and deliberately audacious.
Meanwhile, in Germany in 2026: 77% of companies still use fax machines — mostly because public authorities still demand or strongly prefer them. Yes, really. The once-hyped Online Access Act (OZG) missed its original 2022 deadline, got a 2024 facelift as OZG 2.0, and now promises end-to-end digital services via the new BundID central account by late 2025/2026. Progress is real. Wet-ink requirements are easing. A shiny new Federal Ministry for Digitalization exists.
But walk into many offices and you’ll still find paper forms, queues, and the comforting beep-beep of a fax machine confirming your tax notice actually arrived.
It’s the perfect culture clash. One country treats AI like its new co-pilot and rewrites the rulebook in two years flat. The other treats caution, federal coordination, and GDPR like sacred texts — even if it occasionally means waiting weeks for a stamp that could have been an API call.
Germany’s thoroughness built a high-trust economy that many envy. Nobody’s calling it stupid. But when your biggest rivals in talent and investment are sprinting toward an AI-native state while you’re still optimising PDF uploads, the gap starts looking less like prudence and more like a very expensive comedy sketch.
The UAE isn’t just digitising. It’s agentic-ising.
Germany? It’s getting there. Thoroughly. Methodically. With three copies, please.
One finishes first. The other finishes correctly.
Place your bets.
Under the directives of the President of the UAE, we launch a new government model. Within two years, 50% of government sectors, services, and operations will run on Agentic AI, making the UAE the first government globally to operate at this scale through autonomous systems.
AI is no longer a tool. It analyses, decides, executes, and improves in real time. It will become our executive partner to enhance services, accelerate decisions, and raise efficiency.
This transformation has a clear timeline. Two years. Performance across government will be measured by speed of adoption, quality of implementation, and mastery of AI in redesigning government work.
We are investing in our people. Every federal employee will be trained to master AI, building one of the world’s strongest capabilities in AI-driven government.
Implementation will be overseen by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, with a dedicated taskforce chaired by Mohammad Al Gergawi driving execution.
The world is changing. Technology is accelerating. Our principle remains constant. People come first. Our goal is a government that is faster, more responsive, and more impactful.