Mohamed Al Askar, the man behind Abu Dhabi’s TAMM program, still vividly remembers his childhood role as his father’s "little porter." Back then, government errands meant lugging heavy files of original documents across the city and sprinting between counters to supply endless photocopies. For Al Askar, these memories serve as a powerful reminder of how much administrative burden once rested on the shoulders of the public. Today, he is leveraging those experiences to lead Abu Dhabi’s ambitious transition toward becoming the world’s first AI-native government, driven by the philosophy that technology should handle complexity so that citizens no longer have to.

However, Al Askar warns that simply layering AI onto existing, inefficient systems is a mistake. Instead of forcing people to navigate complex government portals, the goal is to create an "agent-based" model where citizens can simply state what they need, and the system handles the rest. This shift aims to return a precious commodity to the public: time. By automating routine tasks—much like how a few minutes saved by UK civil servants can compound into massive productivity gains—the government hopes to place the burden of bureaucracy on machines rather than people.

Despite his enthusiasm for innovation, Al Askar remains grounded about the risks of over-reliance on technology. During a recent flight, when AI tools failed him, he turned to a simple document and realized that the struggle of writing, thinking, and deleting was where his best ideas were born. He cautions that as our machines become more capable, humans must not become less capable. Ultimately, he believes the future of government isn't about replacing human judgment or curiosity with algorithms, but rather using AI to empower individuals to focus on what truly matters, ensuring that the technology serves the people rather than the other way around.