Abu Dhabi-based Inception42 is preparing to deploy advanced AI systems across the UAE administration later this year, setting a formidable goal to automate half of all federal government operations within just two years. The national rollout of its “agentic AI” is expected to go live by the third quarter.
Quick Facts
- Timeline: National rollout targeted for Q3 2024.
- Goal: Automate 50% of federal government operations.
- Tech: Agentic AI for independent, multi-step tasks.
From Chatbots to Autonomous Agents
The technology, known as agentic artificial intelligence, represents a significant step beyond conversational chatbots. These AI agents are designed to carry out complex, multi-step tasks independently, making decisions and completing work with limited human intervention.
The initiative positions the UAE to attempt the world’s first adoption of agentic AI on a national scale.
“There is a clock that has started ticking, and people have it on their dashboards,” said Ashish Koshy, CEO of Inception42. “We’re doing real-life deployment, and at scale, on a clock.”
A Unified Platform for National Scale
This project is part of a broader collaboration between Inception42’s parent company, G42, and Microsoft, which is set to bring $15.2 billion in AI investment to the UAE. The partnership aims to help organizations shift from disconnected AI experiments to a single, governed system of agents that works across an entire government body.
Under the plan, government bodies will use Inception42’s software platform, Catalyst, to build and manage their AI agents. Employees will interact with these agents through familiar tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot, allowing them to automate routine work.
Critically, AI agents built on Catalyst can be used directly within Copilot, and vice versa. This integration prevents the need to build the same tools twice on separate systems, streamlining deployment and management across different applications.
Tackling Integration and Accountability
Koshy noted that the primary challenge for organizations is not building AI agents, but integrating them. Many early AI pilots became siloed and disconnected, making it difficult for leaders to see a clear return on investment.
“We’re moving from a situation with multiple AI pilots that don’t talk to each other, to a unified deployment, making sure that whatever agents you build, you do it on one platform,” Koshy explained, adding that a human always remains in the loop to oversee the system.
When asked about accountability if an AI agent makes a mistake, Koshy said Catalyst includes a built-in “command centre.” This allows human supervisors to monitor their assigned agents and track failure rates. Because a human is always reviewing and directing the agents, he stated, accountability stays with the individual, not the AI.
He also pushed back on the idea that the deployment must be perfect from the start.
“If the expectation is that while we are experimenting with AI, we will not have mistakes made, I think that does not exist,” he said. “It’s how quick we can learn from those mistakes and scale that in a manner that we become transparent.”
About Inception42
Inception42 is a sovereign agentic AI company owned by Abu Dhabi technology holding group G42. The company focuses on developing and deploying AI systems capable of carrying out complex, multi-step tasks independently to drive large-scale transformation across government and enterprise sectors.
Source: AGBI
