Dubai to Bring in Robots in Government Sectors

Dubai will soon be introducing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in its government sectors, a media report said.

A new Artificial Intelligence (AI) smart lab will soon begin training government officials to implement AI in a wide variety of tasks that will make lives easier, reported Khaleej Times on Tuesday.

The lab, launched on Monday during a workshop by the Smart Dubai Office (SDO) and Smart Dubai Government Establishment, will begin training a batch of 200 persons next month but will later on be open to researchers, students and the general public, said the report.

"To move towards the future, we have to redefine government and embed AI in our services. We have no choice but to embrace technology," said Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, Director-General of Smart Dubai Office. Also read: Meet NASA Astronauts Assigned For The Next Space Station Mission

"We want to replace call centres and help parents choose schools for their children using cognitive computing," she said.

An official said that the government wants "to look at how we can integrate AI into government services and city experiences".

"Unlike humans, machines can surf through hundreds of journals in a minute, be consistent across activities and avoid making mistakes," said the official, adding that AI helps humans to make better decisions.

While studies have shown that AI will replace 50 percent of all jobs by 2025, Noah Raford, Chief Operations Officer of Dubai Future Foundation, said the technology will be more like a helpful colleague, reported the daily.

"Intelligent robots won't handle specific human relation interaction but will become a tool in serving and supporting the human being. Therefore, it isn't very effective for us as governments and colleagues to think that robots will be stealing our jobs," said Raford, adding that AI should be thought of as "New Collar Jobs".

With machines growing more intelligent every year, Raford added AI will revolutionise everyday life by understanding human needs.Also read: US House Votes to Repeal Broadband Privacy Rules Approved by Barack Obama