> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://beirutwire.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The UAE Launches Initiative to Train One Million Lebanese in Artificial Intelligence - URL: https://beirutwire.com/the-uae-launches-initiative-to-train-one-million-lebanese-in-artificial-intelligence/ - Published: 2026-09-25T11:49:43.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-25T11:49:43.000Z - Description: Lebanon and the UAE have launched the “One Million Lebanese AI Experts” initiative, aiming to give one million Lebanese practical skills in generative AI and prompt engineering. - Author: Beirut Wire - Tags: Technology Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates have launched an ambitious initiative to train one million Lebanese people in artificial intelligence, potentially making AI literacy one of the largest-scale skills programs ever attempted in the country. The initiative, announced during a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, is officially called “One Million Lebanese AI Experts.” The program will operate under the UAE’s Government Experience Exchange Programme in cooperation with the Lebanese government. Its goal is not to turn one million Lebanese into AI researchers or software engineers. Instead, the program is designed to give people practical skills in generative artificial intelligence and prompt engineering: how to communicate effectively with AI tools, write useful instructions, improve output quality and integrate AI into work and everyday tasks. The initiative is explicitly intended for a broad audience. UAE and Lebanese officials say it will target people of different ages, professional backgrounds and levels of technical experience rather than focusing exclusively on programmers or university students. That scale is what makes the announcement particularly notable. Training one million people would mean reaching a very substantial share of Lebanon’s resident population. If implemented successfully, it could create a level of basic AI familiarity across Lebanese society that few countries have attempted. The focus will include learning how to formulate instructions for generative AI systems, guide those systems toward more accurate and useful results, automate everyday tasks, increase workplace productivity and develop new ideas and solutions. The initiative also has a government dimension. The UAE says prompt engineering and practical AI skills can help improve public services and modernize government operations, areas where Lebanon remains significantly behind more digitally advanced states. Salam welcomed the initiative, describing investment in human and digital capabilities as an important part of Lebanon’s future and calling for deeper cooperation with the UAE in technology, artificial intelligence and government modernization. The announcement did not come out of nowhere. Earlier this month, a Lebanese government delegation travelled to Dubai to study the UAE’s approach to artificial intelligence, digital government, institutional modernization and reducing bureaucracy. The delegation included officials responsible for the economy and technology and met UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs Mohammed Al Gergawi as part of the same government knowledge-exchange framework. The UAE has spent years trying to make AI a central component of its economic and government strategy. It now runs national AI education programs, specialized training initiatives and an AI curriculum across its school system. Earlier this month, the UAE Cabinet also approved a system of 32 AI advisers intended to assist ministers with policy analysis and decision-making. Abu Dhabi and Dubai therefore increasingly see AI not simply as a technology sector, but as a basic capability that governments, workers and students will need across almost every industry. Lebanon is trying to move in the same direction. Finance Minister Yassine Jaber said this week that artificial intelligence could play a major role in Lebanon’s economic recovery. His ministry has already introduced an AI-generated digital spokeswoman, while Lebanon has also signed a $150 million World Bank-backed program aimed at accelerating digital infrastructure and government modernization. The UAE initiative could significantly expand that effort from government institutions to the wider population. And for Lebanon, there is a strong economic argument for doing so. The country has limited natural resources and a small domestic market, but it has historically produced large numbers of highly educated, multilingual professionals who work across technology, finance, engineering, consulting and entrepreneurship. AI potentially amplifies that advantage. A Lebanese designer who understands generative AI can produce work faster. A small business can automate customer support or marketing. A programmer can use AI coding tools to increase productivity. A student can use AI for research and learning. A government employee can process information more efficiently. And an entrepreneur in Lebanon can increasingly provide digital services to clients abroad without needing significant physical infrastructure. That matters in a country where traditional economic sectors have struggled to generate enough well-paying jobs. AI also lowers some of the barriers to participation in the digital economy. Someone does not necessarily need to become a machine-learning engineer to benefit from the technology. Increasingly, the competitive advantage may come from understanding how to use AI effectively within another profession. That is the logic behind emphasizing prompt engineering and practical adoption rather than advanced computer science alone. But the initiative will ultimately depend on implementation. The announcement has not yet provided detailed information about how the one million participants will be trained, how long courses will last, whether instruction will be online or in person, which platforms will be used or how completion and competence will be measured. Those details will determine whether “one million AI experts” becomes a genuine national skills program or primarily an ambitious headline. The terminology also deserves some perspective. Learning how to use generative AI and write effective prompts does not make someone an AI expert in the technical sense. Building AI systems requires deeper knowledge of mathematics, computer science, machine learning, data engineering and software development. But that does not make basic AI literacy unimportant. The spread of personal computers did not require everyone to become a computer engineer. The spread of the internet did not require everyone to understand networking protocols. AI may develop similarly: a smaller group builds the technology while a much larger population needs to understand how to use it effectively. Lebanon also faces the same risks accompanying rapid AI adoption everywhere else. Users need to understand that models can produce inaccurate information. Businesses need safeguards around confidential data. Students need to distinguish assistance from dependency. Government agencies need rules governing privacy and accountability. And workers need training that goes beyond simply learning how to ask a chatbot questions. The strongest version of the UAE-Lebanon initiative would therefore combine practical use with critical understanding: what AI can do, what it cannot do and when human judgment remains essential. There is also a broader geopolitical dimension. The UAE is increasingly exporting its model of government modernization and technological development through partnerships with other states. Its Government Experience Exchange Programme has worked with dozens of governments since 2018, using UAE expertise in digitalization, public administration and technology as a form of international cooperation. Lebanon is now becoming one of the largest potential beneficiaries of that strategy. For a country that has spent much of the past several years discussing financial collapse, war, reconstruction and emigration, the initiative also represents a different type of international assistance. It is not money for emergency relief. It is not funding for destroyed infrastructure. It is an attempt to invest directly in skills. That distinction could prove important. Lebanon cannot compete globally through cheap manufacturing or enormous domestic scale. Its strongest long-term resource has always been its people. If artificial intelligence becomes as fundamental to the next economy as computers and the internet became to the last one, teaching Lebanese how to use it effectively may ultimately prove more valuable than many conventional aid programs. One million participants is an enormous target. Whether Lebanon and the UAE can actually reach it remains to be seen. But the ambition itself is significant: instead of preparing Lebanon only to recover from its latest crisis, the initiative is trying to prepare a large share of its population for an economy that has not fully arrived yet.