TL;DR
The UAE is using its own homegrown AI security systems to counter AI-assisted hackers from Iran and elsewhere, but human analysts still make the final calls.
Since the Iran-Israel-US war began in February, banks, airlines and energy systems in the UAE have been absorbing about 800,000 hacking attempts a day — four times the pre-war level. Hackers are using AI to write phishing emails, find software flaws and build malware faster than defenders can patch.
The hackers' AI: speed is the big change
A vulnerability that once took days to turn into a working attack now takes hours. Iranian hackers use AI at every step, from picking targets to writing code. One US security firm says more than 20 countries and 40 groups — many linked to Iran — have targeted the UAE.
How the UAE is fighting back
In May the UAE launched 'Cyber Factory,' a program where the national firm CPX and the Cyber Security Council build AI defense systems together. The goal is 'cyber sovereignty' — making the tools at home instead of buying them abroad.
Humans still have the last word
Despite the AI, the UAE still relies on human analysts working shifts to read alerts and decide what to act on. Researchers say state-sponsored hackers treat AI as a 'force multiplier' rather than a fully autonomous weapon, and defense is moving toward machine-to-machine conflict. But people still decide.
In one line: AI makes both attack and defense faster, but humans still call the shots.
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