The UAE has launched its National AI Test and Validation Lab in Abu Dhabi, a new platform designed to assess the security, safety, and trustworthiness of AI systems. The initiative, led by the UAE Cyber Security Council in partnership with Cisco and Open Innovation AI, is part of the country’s broader strategy to strengthen sovereign AI capabilities and reinforce cybersecurity protections as AI adoption expands across critical infrastructure and public services.
According to Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of the UAE Cyber Security Council, the lab will ensure that AI systems deployed nationwide remain aligned with national cybersecurity policies and governance standards. The facility will evaluate AI models, autonomous agents, and applications before deployment, covering areas such as model robustness, prompt injection threats, jailbreak vulnerabilities, privacy risks, data leakage, supply chain integrity, and autonomous agent behaviour.
Systems that meet the required standards will receive a national certification mark, providing assurance for regulators, businesses, and citizens. The lab will also measure compliance against international frameworks, including ISO 42001, MITRE ATLAS, NIST AI RMF, and OWASP standards for large language models and AI agents.
The facility combines Cisco’s AI‑ready infrastructure powered by NVIDIA GPUs with Open Innovation AI’s orchestration and automated security testing platforms. Authorities expect the centre to scale to analysing tens of thousands of AI agents annually, supporting sectors such as finance, healthcare, telecommunications, energy, and critical national infrastructure.
This initiative reflects the UAE’s commitment to building trusted AI systems and ensuring that rapid adoption of agentic AI technologies is accompanied by strong safeguards for security, privacy, and resilience.
