UAE launches AI ecosystem to boost climate-resilient agriculture worldwide

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has launched an artificial intelligence (AI-)driven ecosystem aimed at helping climate-vulnerable agricultural regions adapt to increasingly erratic weather patterns, reinforcing the country’s ambition to position itself as a global hub for applied AI in climate and food security.

Unveiled in Abu Dhabi, the initiative builds on the US$200m partnership between the UAE and the Gates Foundation announced during COP28. It reflects a broader strategy by the UAE to move beyond climate pledges toward deployable, technology-led solutions with measurable impact. As climate change intensifies droughts, floods and temperature extremes, agriculture is emerging as one of the sectors under greatest strain, particularly in the Global South.

The announcement took place in the presence of Mariam Almheiri, head of the International Affairs Office at the UAE Presidential Court; and Bill Gates, chair of the Gates Foundation. Following the launch, both toured an immersive showcase illustrating how the UAE is combining its growing AI infrastructure, academic research and international partnerships to support farmers operating in some of the world’s most climate-exposed environments.

At the core of the initiative is an integrated ecosystem of four complementary programmes designed to connect scientific research, AI model development and digital advisory tools with real-world deployment at scale. Rather than operating as isolated projects, the ecosystem is structured to accelerate the translation of data and research into practical tools that governments, NGOs and farmers can use directly.

Abu Dhabi is positioning itself as a focal point for agricultural AI through initiatives such as the CGIAR AI Hub, which draws on more than 50 years of agricultural research and field data from across the developing world. By applying advanced machine learning techniques to this extensive dataset, the hub aims to improve crop modelling, yield prediction and climate-resilient farming practices in regions where data scarcity has traditionally limited innovation.

Another pillar of the ecosystem is the newly established Institute for Agriculture and Artificial Intelligence at Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI). The institute will focus on building AI capacity for governments and development organisations, offering training programmes, research collaboration and digital advisory services tailored to the needs of smallholder farmers. The emphasis is on ensuring that AI solutions are not only technically advanced but also accessible, localised and usable in low-resource settings.

The ecosystem includes AgriLLM, an open-source large language model trained on deep agricultural and climate datasets. Designed to support advisory services, policymaking and research, AgriLLM reflects a growing push to develop domain-specific AI models that go beyond general-purpose systems and address highly specialised challenges such as crop disease management, soil health and climate risk forecasting.

A key delivery mechanism in the ecosystem is AIM for Scale, a joint UAE-Gates Foundation initiative based at NYU Abu Dhabi. AIM for Scale focuses on expanding AI-powered weather forecasting and climate advisory services, particularly in regions where traditional meteorological infrastructure is limited. The initiative has already demonstrated large-scale impact: in India, AI-enabled monsoon forecasting was used to reach an estimated 38 million farmers in 2025, helping them make more informed decisions about planting, irrigation and harvesting. Similar deployments are now planned for additional countries.

“The UAE is harnessing artificial intelligence for global good, to help protect the farmers and communities most exposed to climate volatility,” Almheiri said. “By connecting our national research and AI capabilities with leading global partners, we are turning science into real tools that reach people on the ground.”

Bill Gates underscored the urgency of the effort, noting that smallholder farmers are often among the least equipped to cope with climate shocks. “Around the world, smallholder farmers are facing the harshest impacts of climate change with the fewest tools to adapt,” he said. “The AI for Agriculture Ecosystem helps change that by putting practical, data-driven solutions directly in farmers’ hands.”

The initiative brings together Abu Dhabi’s leading AI institutions, including MBZUAI, NYU Abu Dhabi and applied AI company ai71 , alongside international partners such as CGIAR, the World Bank and the Gates Foundation. Through this coordinated system, the UAE aims to accelerate climate adaptation, strengthen global food security and deliver AI-enabled solutions to millions of farmers worldwide, signalling a shift from experimentation to impact in the use of AI for development.