Microsoft Elevate UAE expands AI skilling for educators, students and federal employees

[Founding Archive] AI20 editorial coverage based on Microsoft (On the Issues) (2025-11-05). On 5 November 2025, Microsoft published details of Microsoft Elevate UAE as part of its wider UAE AI commitment. The company describes new partnerships to equip educators and students with AI skills and credentials, including collaboration with the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications to train more than 30,000 educators and 70,000 students across the UAE over the next year. Work with GEMS embeds AI skills across its schools and expands programmes for 10,000 teachers and 150,000 students. On the public-sector side, Microsoft and G42 developed specialised courses delivered through the JAHIZ platform with a goal of credentialing 55,000 federal employees over the next year, building on an earlier initiative to upskill 120,000 government employees across federal and emirate entities. Leadership programmes developed with INSEAD have already trained 1,200 senior leaders across UAE government. Microsoft also notes that, despite high national AI adoption in its diffusion reporting, more than 40 percent of working-age adults in the region were still not using AI — underscoring the remaining skills gap Elevate aims to close. Why it matters: Infrastructure without workforce readiness under-delivers. Education and public-service skilling programmes determine whether AI investments translate into operational capacity — a practical KPI for ministries, universities and employers evaluating national AI strategies. AI20 perspective: Human capability is the alliance’s scarce resource. Scalable, credentialed AI literacy for teachers, students and civil servants is a collaboration asset that compounds across borders when curricula and standards are shared responsibly. (Category: Education; Region: United Arab Emirates; Tags: AI literacy; skilling; education; public sector; Microsoft Elevate; UAE. Original source: https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2025/11/05/microsoft-elevate-uae-building-a-future-ready-workforce/)