Cities are integrating artificial intelligence into public services and operations with no shared framework for measuring or comparing how prepared they are to do so safely, effectively or accountably.
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Cover of Oxford Insights' latest report on City AI Readiness. (Graphic: AETOSWire)
Existing global indices compare countries on legislation, investment and research output, but the AI efforts happening at city level – the level of government where the technology most directly shapes daily life – are not systematically captured.
To start closing that gap, Oxford Insights researchers studied AI readiness across six cities. They found that all share the same core priorities, from governance and funding to talent and infrastructure, but take distinct routes to AI readiness, shaped both by structural conditions and by deliberate strategic choices.
The findings draw on an in-depth study of Abu Dhabi, where researchers were able to observe city-level AI readiness being actively built rather than planned.
The UAE capital was considered alongside five further international cities: Seoul, London, Montreal, Helsinki and Tallinn.
A report published today sets out the foundation for a proposed City AI Readiness Index, giving city governments a comparable reference point to that which national governments have used since 2017 – and giving citizens and residents a clearer picture of how prepared their city is.
"Cities are where most people deal with government, yet there has been no shared way to judge how ready they are for AI," said Richard Stirling, CEO of Oxford Insights. "Our framework will give city leaders that information, and Abu Dhabi was the right place to test it. It has assembled every layer of the AI stack, from compute and energy through models and capital to government as a large-scale user. Applying the framework to other cities then shows the different routes they are taking and what each one relies on."
City AI Readiness: A Deep Dive into Abu Dhabi and the Global Landscape was produced in collaboration with Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence and Khalifa University.
It finds no single model of AI readiness and identifies areas requiring continued attention as deployment scales, including compute and energy requirements, talent, governance and resilience.
Researchers used a six-pillar framework for understanding AI readiness and identified four city archetypes that can help leaders assess strengths, gaps and priorities for future development.
They are infrastructure-led "Platform Cities", research-driven "Cognitive Cities", service-focused "Delivery Cities" and "Strategic Cities", where AI sits at the centre of government and economic planning.
Abu Dhabi was identified alongside Seoul as a Strategic City.
In January 2025, it launched a three-year strategy to transform into the world's first AI-native government.
TAMM, its agentic AI-powered public services platform used by 4.7 million, now resolves 96 per cent of enquiries autonomously through AI.
Oxford Insights plans to pilot the index across 15 to 20 cities.
About Oxford Insights
Since 2017, Oxford Insights has produced the Government AI Readiness Index — the first global AI index focused specifically on the role of government. Used by countries around the world as a benchmark, the Index features in multiple national AI strategies and informs policy making at the highest levels. Oxford Insights is a research and advisory firm specialising in government AI readiness and digital transformation.
Notes to editors
- Report title: City AI Readiness: A Deep Dive into Abu Dhabi and the Global Landscape
- Full report available at: https://oxfordinsights.com/city-ai-readiness-ad/
- Publication date: 6 October 2026
*Source: AETOSWire
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