UAE Vibe Codes Drive Draws More Than 200,000 People to Build Apps With AI

The initiative, called UAE Vibe Codes and run with Microsoft, was held on October 29. It aimed to show people with no coding experience how to turn an idea into a working website or application within minutes by describing it to AI tools, according to a statement carried by the state news agency WAM on November 4. More than 65 government bodies, private companies, academic institutions and national organisations took part.

The numbers matter because the UAE has made broad AI literacy part of its national strategy, and "vibe coding", in which software is built by prompting AI models rather than writing code by hand, has become one of the most visible consumer uses of the technology. Running it as a public campaign across ministries, employers and schools gives the government a large pool of people who have tried the tools at least once.

Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, said the turnout showed how ready UAE society was to adopt new tools, and that innovation was no longer the preserve of specialists but open to anyone with an idea. He said the country's ambition went beyond using technology to building it.

Participants included the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Community Empowerment, the National Media Authority, the Emirates Health Services, the UAE Space Agency, the Capital Market Authority, Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority, Digital Dubai, the Dubai Health Authority and Dubai Municipality. Telecoms operators e& and du, Emirates airline and Emirates NBD also encouraged staff and customers to take part, along with several schools and Ras Al Khaimah government departments.

The AI Office ran hands-on workshops with Google, Emirates Global Aluminium, Dell Technologies, IBM and Siemens. Emaar and UAE cinema operators promoted the campaign on their digital screens.

The statement did not say which Microsoft tools participants used, how many of the 90,000 platforms were finished products, or how many remain online.

UAE Codes Day was set up in October 2021 on the instruction of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. The date marks the launch of the region's first e-government on October 29, 2001, and the announcement of Dubai Internet City on the same date in 1999. In November 2023 UNESCO adopted the UAE's proposal to make October 29 a world coding day.