UAE uses AI to write and review national laws – AI lawmaking is no longer science fiction

AI lawmaking isn't science fiction anymore. The UAE is making it real—faster than you can say "chatbot constitution." The Gulf nation is officially the first country in the world to use artificial intelligence to draft and review federal laws, and it's not stopping there.

This is part of a broader digital transformation strategy designed to modernize everything from public services to judicial rulings, setting the country on a path to becoming a global digital powerhouse.

The move isn't just about convenience or automation—it’s a strategic shift. A newly approved cabinet unit called the Regulatory Intelligence Office will be in charge of implementing AI into the legislative system.

“This new legislative system, powered by artificial intelligence, will change how we create laws, making the process faster and more precise,” said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Vice President of the UAE and ruler of Dubai.

And this isn’t some futuristic pilot project. The UAE has been laying the foundation for this for years. Back in 2017, the country appointed the world’s first Minister of Artificial Intelligence—Omar Sultan al-Olama—just days after launching its official UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence.

That wasn’t just symbolic; it marked a commitment to embed AI into the fabric of national governance. Fast forward to today, and the country’s investment in digital infrastructure is starting to pay off.

Political commentator Abdulkhaleq Abdulla notes that “The UAE is very serious about AI. It wants to be a global AI and digital economy hub just as it is a global financial and logistics hub.”

The scale of ambition is enormous. The UAE projects that by 2030, artificial intelligence will have a global market value of $15.7 trillion and boost the country’s GDP by 35 percent while slashing government costs by half.

But how exactly does this AI-driven lawmaking work? Solicitor and legal drafter Hesham Elrafei explains that the country is not simply feeding text into a machine and calling it a day.

“It’s introducing a new way of making them. Instead of the traditional parliamentary model – where laws get stuck in endless political debates and take years to pass – this approach is faster, clearer, and based on solving real problems.”

That means AI systems are now being used to analyze massive databases of court rulings, identify inconsistencies or gaps in existing legislation, and even propose new laws that address those gaps.

On top of that, the systems study legal frameworks from around the world and adapt best practices to the UAE’s unique context. This results in laws that are not only timely but also globally informed.

That’s especially important in a country like the UAE, where only about 10 percent of the population is native Emirati. The rest? Nearly 200 different nationalities, speaking a variety of languages and coming from all walks of life.

“This also means writing laws in clear, plain language, in both Arabic, English and other languages, so people can understand them,” Elrafei said. That level of inclusivity is a game-changer.

“In many Western democracies, laws are often so complex that ordinary people can’t understand them without hiring a lawyer. That creates distance between people and the law. The UAE is closing that gap.”

Still, while the vision is bold, not everyone is convinced it’s without risks. Experts have voiced concern over the limitations and potential downsides of using artificial intelligence in such sensitive and impactful areas.

According to Financial Times, Vincent Straub, a researcher at Oxford University, warned that “We can’t trust them … they continue to hallucinate [and] have reliability issues and robustness issues.”

The concerns aren’t just technical—they’re philosophical. Law is more than just logic and structure; it’s also about interpretation, values, and societal norms.

Keegan McBride of the Oxford Internet Institute points out that the UAE’s centralized political system enables it to move faster than democracies, which often have more procedural roadblocks. “They’re able to move fast. They can sort of experiment with things. In terms of ambition, [the UAE are] right there near the top.”

But even with that agility, human judgment still plays a crucial role. Ahmad al-Khalil, a partner at Crimson Legal, emphasized that while AI can make sense of vast datasets, it can’t replace human conscience. “Law is fundamentally a human endeavour, deeply rooted in fairness, judgement, and context.”

“While AI can manage vast amounts of data and reveal trends, human oversight remains crucial, particularly regarding rights, equity, and interpretation.”

So what does all this mean for the rest of the world? The UAE may be first, but it’s unlikely to be the last. Brazil has already experimented with AI-generated laws, and many other countries are watching closely.

If the UAE’s model proves effective, it could inspire global reforms in how laws are created—replacing years of slow legislative compromise with faster, data-driven, and people-focused outcomes.

It’s a daring vision, one that reimagines the legislative process itself. And while it's still early days, the UAE’s AI lawmaking push is forcing the world to consider a provocative question: What if the future of governance isn’t more politics—but better code?