In 2017, the UAE became the first country to adopt a national artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, the first to create a ministerial post to lead it, and the first to appoint Chief AI Officers across federal entities. Since then, we have built global partnerships, launched the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in 2019, and made AI a key priority in national planning and capacity building programmes. This sustained effort is now evident across our infrastructure, education system, government services and private sector. Yet, like the rest of the world, we are still at an early stage of the AI journey, which requires us to keep pace with fast-moving changes in the field.