United Arab EmiratesDIFC Data Protection Regulation 10 on personal data processed through autonomous and semi-autonomous systems, in force 1 September 2023, is the first such rule in the MEASA region. It imposes notice, transparency, accountability, audit and certification duties on deployers and operators, including law firms in the DIFC.
Regulation Tracker · Country · Middle East
United Arab Emirates
Developingmixedupdated 2026-09-04verified 2026-09-04
As of 4 September 2026 the UAE regulates AI in legal practice only inside its common-law financial free zones. DIFC Courts Practical Guidance Note No. 2 of 2023 requires early declaration and verification of AI content; the ADGM Court made a wasted-costs order in Arabyads (18 Dec 2025). No onshore court rule or bar guidance exists.
As of 2026-09-04, the United Arab Emirates has 1 binding rule, official guidance in 5 categories, 0 proposals and 1 position set only by case law across the 20 categories in the map. Binding rules cover data protection and legal AI. In 13 categories we found nothing; in 0 the position is not yet determined.
How to read this page
- Binding rule Binding rule means a rule in force from a court, statute, regulator or equivalent authority.
- Official guidance Official guidance means an official non-binding position from a judiciary, regulator, bar or public body.
- Proposed / consultation Proposed / consultation means a public bill, draft rule or consultation that is not yet in force.
- Set by case law Set by case law means no rule was found, but courts have set the position in decisions.
- Nothing found Nothing found means the category was checked and no rule, guidance, proposal or case-law position was found.
- Not yet determined Not yet determined means research did not establish a reliable position yet.
The rules, category by category
DIFC Courts Practical Guidance Note No. 2 of 2023 (21 Dec 2023) requires parties to declare at the earliest possible opportunity that they have used or intend to use AI-generated content. No onshore federal, Dubai or Abu Dhabi court rule.
DIFC PGN 2/2023 requires AI-generated material to be verified for accuracy and reliability against independent sources before submission. In ADGM, Arabyads Holding v Alam (18 Dec 2025) held that verifying AI research, including that cited authorities exist, is a practitioner obligation.
DIFC PGN 2/2023 requires witness statements to remain in the intended witness's own words under RDC 29.24, addressing AI-drafted testimony. No wider rule on AI-generated or deepfake evidence.
DIFC PGN 2/2023 requires practitioners using AI to comply with the DIFC Courts Mandatory Code of Conduct and applicable data-protection and IP law, and identifies protection of client confidentiality as a best practice.
No court-specific AI policy. The UAE Charter for the Development and Use of AI (UAE AI Office, July 2024) sets 12 non-binding principles for government AI, including human oversight and accountability. The Ministry of Justice runs AI services (Virtual Legal Advisor, 'Ask Adel' chatbot, smart OCR); an integrated AI judicial platform was announced 28 July 2026.
In Arabyads Holding Ltd v Gulrez Alam Marghoob Alam [2025] ADGMCFI 0032 (18 Dec 2025), Justice Paul Heath KC ordered the defendant's former representatives, MIO Legal Consultants LLP, to pay AED 282,508 in wasted costs on an indemnity basis for a 327-paragraph defence containing fictitious and miscited authorities. The conduct was found reckless and a breach of the ADGM Rules of Conduct.
No published guidance for judges or court staff in the onshore courts, DIFC or ADGM as of 4 September 2026. The AI judicial platform announced on 28 July 2026 is described as leaving final judgments to judges, but no rule has been published.
No rule barring AI from adjudicative reasoning. Official announcements of the integrated AI judicial platform (28 Jul 2026) state judges retain sole authority over final rulings, but this is a design statement, not a published rule.
No guidance for self-represented litigants using AI found as of 4 September 2026; the DIFC guidance note is addressed to parties in proceedings generally.
No competence rule naming AI or technology for onshore, DIFC or ADGM practitioners found as of 4 September 2026.
No supervision rule naming AI. In Arabyads the ADGM Court made the wasted-costs order against the law firm rather than the individual lawyer, but decided the point under existing conduct rules.
No requirement to inform clients of or obtain consent for AI use found as of 4 September 2026.
No rule, guidance or reported case on billing for AI-assisted work found as of 4 September 2026.
No AI-specific ruling or regulation on consumer AI legal services. General licensing of advocates and legal consultants by the Ministry of Justice and, in Dubai, the Legal Affairs Department, applies.
The UAE has no independent national bar association; advocates are licensed by the Ministry of Justice and the emirate-level legal affairs departments. No generative-AI guidance for practitioners has been published by any of them as of 4 September 2026.
No horizontal AI statute. The UAE Charter for the Development and Use of AI (July 2024) is expressly a non-binding ethical framework; the National AI Strategy 2031 sets direction only.
No AI rules or guidance published by the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC) or the DIFC-LCIA successor bodies as of 4 September 2026. DIAC launched the DANA case-management platform in January 2026 and an AI partnership with Jus Mundi in June 2025, neither accompanied by AI conduct rules.
No mandatory AI training or CLE requirement found. The Abu Dhabi Judicial Academy has added AI topics to its programmes for lawyers seeking rights of audience, but this is not a published rule.
No legal-sector vendor due-diligence rule. DIFC Regulation 10 imposes audit and certification duties on entities deploying AI to process personal data, recorded under data-protection.
Sub-national rules
Where states, provinces or courts set their own rules. Cells show the status in each category the record covers.
Official documents recorded for United Arab Emirates (3)
- The UAE Charter for the Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence
UAE AI Office · revised 2024-07-30 · verified 2026-09-04
- Practical Guidance Note No. 2 of 2023: large language models and generative AI in DIFC Courts proceedings
DIFC Courts · revised 2023-12-21 · verified 2026-09-04
- DIFC Data Protection Regulations, Regulation 10 — Processing Personal Data through Autonomous and Semi-autonomous Systems
DIFC Commissioner of Data Protection · revised 2023-09-01 · verified 2026-09-04
Court incidents on the record in United Arab Emirates
- Sheppard v Jillion LLC [2025] QIC (E) 3 (CTFIC0033/2025)2025-11-12 Other
Cite this page
SafeLegalAI Legal AI Regulation Tracker, "United Arab Emirates" (updated 2026-09-04, verified 2026-09-04), https://safelegalai.com/regulation/country/ae (accessed 2026-09-04). Data: CC BY 4.0.
SafeLegalAI is a research publication by Cognesio LLP, not a law firm. Nothing here is legal advice, and no lawyer–client relationship arises from reading it. Rules change; always check the official document linked on each record and take advice on your own situation. Researched and drafted with AI assistance; verified against primary sources and edited by Cognesio LLP. The linked official documents are the record — our summaries are not the law and are not legal advice.
- DIFC Courts — Practical Guidance Note No. 2 of 2023 on large language models and generative AI
- ADGM — Arabyads Holding Ltd v Gulrez Alam, costs judgment (18 Dec 2025)
- DIFC Commissioner of Data Protection — Regulation 10 (autonomous and semi-autonomous systems)
- UAE Government — Charter for the Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence
- UAE Ministry of Justice — Artificial Intelligence
- ADGM Courts — legislation and procedures (practice directions)