The UAE has taken a landmark step in responsible AI governance with the launch of the National AI Test and Validation Lab, a first-of-its-kind facility designed to test, validate and certify AI models, agents and applications for security, safety and trustworthiness.
The lab was established through a strategic collaboration between the UAE Cyber Security Council, Open Innovation AI, Cisco and Emircom, and operates under the governance of the Cybersecurity Council. It is already operational and expected to scale to analyzing tens of thousands of AI agents annually.
Dr. Mohamed Al-Kuwaiti, Head of Cyber Security for the UAE Government, described the lab as a sovereign capability that ensures every AI model and agent deployed across the economy is secure, trustworthy and aligned with national strategies.
"This is how we turn the UAE's ambition to lead in AI into concrete, verifiable assurance for our citizens,"
he said.
The facility evaluates AI systems across six key dimensions: model security, threat defense, data integrity, supply-chain security, agent autonomy and regulatory compliance. Systems that pass will receive a national certification mark, giving regulators, operators and citizens verifiable assurance of an AI system's integrity.
Assessments are benchmarked against international standards including ISO 42001, MITRE ATLAS, NIST AI RMF and OWASP frameworks. The lab's infrastructure combines Cisco's secure networking and NVIDIA GPU-powered compute with Open Innovation AI's software platform to automate policy conformance and evidence collection at scale.
The lab will serve federal and local government entities, critical national infrastructure operators, and sectors including financial services, healthcare, energy and telecommunications, as well as UAE-based AI developers seeking market-ready certification.
News Source: Emirates News Agency
