Dubai is quickly becoming the world’s fastest-growing digital innovation hub, with the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy announcing support for growing 582 digital startups.
The future of retail shopping has taken a dramatic step forward in Dubai, as the city announced the world’s first AI-powered payment system during a live demonstration.
The new technology is a significant leap forward in agentic commerce. It is known as Agent Pay, which was introduced by Mastercard in partnership with Majid AI Futtaim at the Dubai Future Forum.
The process allowed a user to buy two tickets to a horror film via a voice assistant without having to visit a separate website or manually enter payment details.
Every step of the process, from choosing the movie and seats to making the payment, was managed seamlessly within the conversational AI-driven platform, which shows a vision of the future in which digital agents handle complex shopping tasks on behalf of consumers.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has achieved a significant milestone this year by ranking 21st on the World Happiness Index, surpassing countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and all other Arab countries. This achievement shows a strong sense of community among residents and the government’s visionary efforts to improve residents’ lives and make them safer.
At the center of this success is the government’s strategic use of artificial intelligence to streamline and improve services across various industries.
Omar Al Olama, the UAE’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, witnessed the AI-powered platform Agent Pay being used along with Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard.
This AI-powered platform shows how AI agents can simplify the customer experience, including handling tasks like finding the best seats in a movie, selecting showtimes, and finding the closest cinema location before making a secure payment.
The launch was a testament to Dubai’s growing reputation as a global leader in innovation, a city where futuristic ideas are brought to life.
Dubai is quickly becoming the world’s fastest-growing digital innovation hub, with the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy announcing support for creating and growing 582 digital startups in just the first nine months of 2025.
The increase in entrepreneurship is due to the Emirates‘ growing influence in the technology industry and its appeal to attract the next generation of global digital pioneers.
Omar Al Olama stated that this success was due to the UAE’s mindset of encouraging experimentation with a “why not” attitude. Instead of questioning ideas, they test innovative technologies within controlled environments before adopting them. This forward-thinking mindset helps the UAE to act as a hub for global innovation.
It is absolutely convenient to use the AI-powered Agent Pay, but Mastercard and government officials emphasized its security and trust.
Michael Miebach noted that, through the platform, there is potential for unauthorized purchases and fraud, so it is necessary to implement comprehensive safeguards in the system.
He added that there is a strong need for controls and protections while aiming for a balance between innovation and consumer safety.
Looking to the future, Miebach offered advice to young professionals entering a workspace shaped by artificial intelligence. He encouraged them to develop skills unique to humans rather than choose a career path that can be easily automated by AI.
Rather than choosing a job that will be replaced with technology, he advised the next generation of young professionals to use their individual strengths and focus on careers that require judgment, thinking, and personal interaction.
This advice will be suitable for a broader workforce, where human-centric skills will play an important role, as many global big tech companies invest billions in data centers and AI.
