COVER STORY
He predicts a shift from producing work to guiding AI.“ Productivity will be higher – those in AI positions will instruct agents, shifting from doing the work themselves to verifying, guiding and scaling it. This approach means increased efficiencies, with the overall workforce achieving far more with improved tools and resources.”
From siloed data to sovereign intelligence
For many governments and regulated industries, the challenge isn’ t a lack of data but its fragmentation. Critical information is trapped in legacy systems, ministries and formats never built for AI-scale analysis. This slows innovation and undermines trust in outcomes.
Chakravarthi explained:“ We start by consolidating data without disrupting existing infrastructure. VAST’ s architecture creates a unified namespace across all types, while Core42’ s Insight platform enforces consistent residency, access and compliance. across public, private and Edge environments, while Core42’ s Sovereign Landing Zones embed compliance directly into Azure cloud services. This balances innovation with jurisdictional control.
Cybersecurity is embedded throughout.“ AI brings new threats as well as new protections,” said Hallak.“ We must govern what AI agents can access and communicate and preserve the ability to observe and reproduce interactions over time.”
Meanwhile, Smart Cities generate torrents of unstructured data – video, sensors, geospatial feeds. Together, Core42 and VAST enable real-time monitoring and multimodal AI analysis at scale, turning floods of raw data into actionable intelligence under sovereign controls.
National competitiveness and Gulf leadership
“ That transforms isolated datasets into a governed, unified foundation ready for national-scale innovation.”
Hallak emphasised how re-architecting the stack enables governments to break trade-offs.“ We built a single data platform agnostic to workloads – supporting legacy systems as well as AI training, inference and agentic workloads. Consolidation means all data is accessible to next-generation AI without duplication or complexity.”
Scaling AI from pilots to production
Governments and agencies can struggle to move from proof-ofconcept to mission-critical deployment. Core42 addresses this with the AI Cloud, which unifies diverse models and enforces sovereignty throughout the lifecycle via its Insight platform.
Structured Cloud Transformation Services, available through Microsoft Azure Marketplace, cover migration, modernisation and hypercare, while enablement programmes provide training and expert guidance.
Hallak argues that AI will transform every sector.“ I’ ve tried to think of cases where it won’ t have an impact but haven’ t found much. The physical robots we’ re seeing – especially in the Gulf region, which is advancing much faster than anywhere else, with things like flying cars – are rapidly progressing.”
For the UAE, this pace is a strategic opportunity.“ The Gulf region, and UAE in particular, are so far ahead of the curve compared to the rest of the world. It’ s an opportunity for this region to redefine itself and become a central force. The UAE is in an amazing position to amass a lot more relevance, impact and power through these new technologies.”
Chakravarthi added:“ By creating an architecture of trust, we enable governments to innovate confidently, knowing their sovereignty is preserved. That’ s how nations turn AI into a foundation for long-term growth.” �
“ Just as important,” Chakravarthi said,“ we support cultural transformation by aligning initiatives with national priorities and enterprise goals, helping leaders and cross-functional teams embed AI into strategy and daily operations.”
Watch the interview here
Hallak added:“ The first phase of AI – research and prototypes – is behind us. The next phase requires secure, simple, compliant operating systems that make AI accessible at scale. That’ s what our platform delivers.” Migration, security and Smart Cities
Governments face pressure to modernise while ensuring sovereignty. VAST’ s global namespace and sync engine integrate legacy data
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