Emirates has introduced what it says is the world’s first electrically powered Premium Economy seat, as the airline continues investing in its premium cabin offering amid growing competition for higher-yield leisure and business travellers.

The new seat, which will debut on newly delivered Airbus A350 aircraft, features a full-height electrically adjustable privacy screen between every seat—the first such feature in a Premium Economy cabin globally—alongside wireless charging, upgraded inflight entertainment and enhanced ergonomic design.

Installed in a dedicated 28-seat Premium Economy cabin arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration, the new product allows passengers to raise or lower the privacy divider using integrated seat controls, creating a more personal space for working, dining or resting during the flight.

The seat is also Emirates’ first fully electrically powered Premium Economy product, allowing passengers to adjust seating positions through an integrated Passenger Control Unit with preset lounge and meal modes.

The airline has also introduced Safran Seats’ U-Dream leather headrest, offering adjustable side wings for additional neck support, while a manually deployable leather footrest is designed to improve comfort on longer journeys.

Each seat measures 20 inches wide with up to 39 inches of pitch on the A350 and reclines into a cradle position without affecting passengers seated behind.

The upgraded cabin also introduces wireless charging to Premium Economy for the first time, alongside USB-C charging ports and tray tables with integrated phone holders, enabling passengers to use mobile devices as a second screen while dining or watching entertainment.

Customers will continue to have access to Emirates’ ice inflight entertainment system through a 13.3-inch 4K HDR touchscreen. New Airbus A350 aircraft will also feature additional external cameras on both sides of the aircraft, complementing the existing forward and downward camera views.

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Beyond the seat, Emirates is further enhancing its Premium Economy proposition with chef-prepared meals served on Royal Doulton fine china, Robert Welch cutlery and linen napkins, alongside premium beverages including Chandon Vintage Brut 2021, available exclusively to Emirates Premium Economy passengers.

The airline is also expanding its wine selection with Chablis Premier Cru Jean-Marc Brocard 2024 and La Parde de Haut-Bailly 2014 on selected routes from September. In October, Emirates will introduce Wiston Estate Brut NV as its first English sparkling wine, served exclusively in Premium Economy on UK routes.

For long-haul passengers, Emirates is also refreshing its amenity kits through a partnership with United for Wildlife. The reusable kits, made using bio-based materials including cactus leather alternatives, will include Aveda skincare products, socks, eyeshades, earplugs and dental kits.

The latest enhancements form part of Emirates’ broader strategy to differentiate its Premium Economy product as the carrier continues expanding the cabin across its fleet and capitalising on growing demand for premium travel experiences.

The UAE Artificial Intelligence Office, in collaboration with Google Gemini, has launched one-year complimentary access to ‘Google AI Plus’ for university students in the UAE, giving them access to Google Gemini and a range of other AI-powered tools and technologies.

The initiative is part of the UAE Government’s efforts to equip students with modern digital skills and tools while preparing a generation capable of using the growing capabilities of artificial intelligence effectively and responsibly.

The move supports national capacity-building efforts and strengthens the readiness of young talent for future requirements, a WAM report said.

Focus on responsible AI use

Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, said the UAE leadership adopts a proactive vision that places humanity at the centre of its journey towards the future.

He said this vision is supported by sustained investment in empowering new generations with the knowledge, skills and opportunities needed to contribute to development and reinforce the UAE’s position as a global model for foresight and shaping the future.

Read more-UAE to introduce AI curriculum across public, private schools: What’s to know

Al Olama stressed that the next phase requires a shift from simply using AI tools to developing a deeper understanding of how they can be employed responsibly in learning and research.

He added that providing students with access to the latest models and tools, while developing their ability to use them, can foster a culture of continuous learning, exploration and innovation.

According to Al Olama, these capabilities will give students greater opportunities to expand their knowledge, develop new solutions and play a stronger role in shaping an AI-driven future.

AI tools for study and research

The ‘Google AI Plus’ plan gives students access to a suite of AI tools designed to support study, research and content production. These include the ‘Gemini’ app with its latest AI model, as well as tools to organise sources and information, summarise study materials and references, and assist in preparing research.

The plan can be accessed via this link.

Students will also receive access to AI-supported tools for generating images and videos. ‘Gemini Notebook’ allows users to interact with academic materials and sources, prepare summaries and benefit from interactive audio content. The plan also includes 400 GB of storage.

Training programmes planned

As part of the collaboration between the AI Office and Google, a series of virtual and in-person training programmes will be organised for university students.

The programmes will focus on developing students’ skills in using ‘Gemini’ and ‘Gemini Notebook’ for study and research, while promoting responsible practices in the use of AI technologies.

Through partnerships with global technology institutions, the UAE continues to strengthen an integrated ecosystem for AI capacity building and reinforce its position as a global hub for developing and adopting advanced technologies.

Registration open until December

The expansion follows the strong turnout for the university student initiative launched last year and extends the programme this year to a larger number of students across the Arab world.

Registered university students in the UAE aged 18 and above can sign up for the plan free of charge for one full year, provided they complete registration before December 31, 2026.

The collaboration forms part of the ‘AI for All’ initiative launched by the AI Office and Google in 2024. The initiative aims to broaden access to AI technologies, develop essential skills in the field, support relevant research, and create solutions and applications serving different segments of society.

Saudi Arabia is building the engine of an AI economy at extraordinary speed but, as Abdullah Jarwan puts it, the industry “talks too much about the size of the engine and not enough about where the car is going.” The CEO of CNTXT, the technology company born as a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Norway’s Cognite, has spent the past few years positioning his firm squarely in that gap: the distance between having world-class AI infrastructure and having AI actually working inside a bank, an industrial plant or a government body.

Now describing itself as an “AI-first” company and serving as Google Cloud’s exclusive reseller in Saudi Arabia, CNTXT operates in what Jarwan calls the “conversion layer”, turning compute capacity into capability, and capability into economic value. It’s a role that spans systems integration, data governance, sovereign controls that keep data and support inside the kingdom, and homegrown products such as inSafe, an AI-driven industrial-safety platform now used by more than 30,000 workers across large Saudi industrial sites.

At LEAP 2026 in Riyadh, where CNTXT is a Diamond Sponsor, Jarwan makes that case in person. Here, he talks to Gulf Business about why “AI-first” has to mean more than a slogan, how he positions the company against the hyperscalers building directly in the kingdom, where enterprise appetite for AI agents is real versus hyped, and why he believes true sovereignty means engaging with the world “from a position of capability, choice and control” — not walling the kingdom off from it.

CNTXT began as an Aramco–Cognite joint venture and now describes itself as an “AI-first” company. What prompted that shift?

I would describe it less as a shift and more as an evolution.

CNTXT was created around a fundamental idea: data becomes valuable when you give it context. That principle has not changed. What has changed dramatically is what technology can now do with that context.

Cloud gave enterprises the ability to scale. Modern data platforms gave them the ability to connect information. AI now gives them the ability to understand, predict and act on it. So becoming AI-first was the natural next step for CNTXT.

But “AI-first” can easily become a slogan. For us, it means something very practical. We start with the business problem, the data and the operating context, then determine where AI can create measurable value. Sometimes that means predictive intelligence. Sometimes automation. Sometimes it means giving a worker better information before a critical decision.

For us, that AI-first approach has two complementary dimensions. First, through our professional services capabilities, we act as an AI-first systems integrator, helping enterprises build the right foundations, connect and govern their data, integrate technologies, and move AI from experimentation into production.

Second, through domain-driven product development, we apply AI to specific operational challenges. inSafe is a good example: it combines digital controls with AI-driven intelligence for industrial safety, helping organisations move from documenting what happened to identifying risk before work begins.

That is ultimately where I believe enterprise AI is heading: away from AI as a separate technology initiative and toward intelligence embedded into how organisations actually operate.

As Google Cloud’s exclusive reseller in the kingdom, how do you position CNTXT against the hyperscalers building directly in Saudi Arabia?

I see the continued investment by AWS, Microsoft and other global technology companies in Saudi Arabia as a positive development. It reflects the scale of the opportunity in the kingdom and gives Saudi organisations greater access to world-class technology.

We are also seeing customers increasingly think beyond a single-cloud model. At the enterprise level, cloud decisions are increasingly workload-driven, so we expect multiple platforms to coexist as organisations choose the right environment for different requirements.

Google Cloud remains particularly well positioned as enterprises accelerate their data and AI agendas. Its capabilities in data, analytics and AI are increasingly relevant as the conversation moves beyond cloud infrastructure toward how organisations can use their data and put AI to work at scale.

For CNTXT, this evolution reinforces our role. Our value has never been limited to providing access to cloud infrastructure. We help organisations build secure foundations, modernise applications, connect and govern their data, deploy AI, navigate Saudi regulatory and sovereignty requirements, and turn technology into measurable business outcomes. As the technology landscape becomes more sophisticated, that integration capability becomes even more important.

We remain very proud of our relationship with Google Cloud and the capabilities we have built around it in Saudi Arabia. Ultimately, more cloud investment means more capability for the kingdom. The real opportunity is turning that technology into enterprise value.

Your Sovereign Controls offering keeps data and support inside the kingdom. How much of your client demand is now driven by sovereignty requirements?

Sovereignty has moved from being a specialist requirement to becoming part of the architecture conversation for almost every major organisation we work with.

But I think the definition of sovereignty is becoming more sophisticated.

It is not simply asking, “Where is my data stored?” Organisations increasingly want to understand who can access it, who operates the environment, how encryption and access are controlled, where support is delivered, how workloads are governed and whether they retain meaningful control as the technology evolves.

This becomes even more important with AI because AI introduces new questions around models, data, intellectual property, access and decision-making.

For Saudi Arabia, sovereignty therefore should not mean disconnecting from global technology. It should mean using world-class technology while maintaining control over the assets and capabilities that matter strategically.

That is an important distinction. Sovereignty without innovation risks isolation. Innovation without sufficient control can create dependency. The opportunity for Saudi Arabia is to build a model that combines the two.

Where are you seeing real enterprise appetite for AI agents in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf?

There is significant interest, but I think it is important to distinguish interest from production readiness.

The first phase of generative AI was largely about interacting with AI: asking questions, generating content and accessing knowledge. The next phase is about allowing AI to participate more actively in enterprise workflows, whether that means retrieving information, coordinating tasks, recommending actions or automating defined processes.

That has enormous potential. But as AI becomes more capable of acting rather than simply answering, context, governance and accountability become much more important.

An AI system operating inside an enterprise needs to understand what information it can access, what actions it can take, where human approval is required and when it must escalate. The important question therefore becomes not only “How intelligent is the AI?” but “How responsibly can we put that intelligence to work?”

We see the greatest potential where organisations have complex, data-rich workflows and where better or faster decisions can create measurable value.

Ultimately, I do not think success will be measured by how many AI agents an organisation deploys. It will be measured by how effectively AI improves the way the organisation works.

HUMAIN and others are pouring billions into compute and data centres. Where does CNTXT add value in that crowded landscape?

Compute is essential, but compute by itself does not transform an enterprise.

Saudi Arabia is making an extraordinary investment in the infrastructure required for the AI economy. Our role is to help enterprises adopt that infrastructure effectively and orchestrate data, applications and workloads across the environments they operate in, creating the secure, governed foundations needed to put AI into production.

The opportunity now is to connect that infrastructure to real enterprise needs and turn capacity into productivity, safer operations, better services and new economic value.

That is where CNTXT adds value.

There is a significant distance between having access to world-class AI infrastructure and having AI working reliably inside a bank, an industrial facility, a government entity or a healthcare organisation. You need secure cloud foundations. You need usable and governed data. You need integration with existing systems. You need domain understanding, regulatory controls and people who understand how the organisation actually operates.

I sometimes think the industry talks too much about the size of the engine and not enough about where the car is going.

Saudi Arabia does not ultimately capture the full value of AI simply by building compute capacity. It does so by converting that capacity into capability, and capability into economic and societal value.

CNTXT operates in that conversion layer: connecting infrastructure, data, AI and enterprise context to solve real problems.

Read: LEAP 2026: Five tech leaders unpack Saudi Arabia’s evolving AI ecosystem

CNTXT is a Diamond Sponsor at LEAP 2026. What did you showcase there, and what does the event signal about the kingdom’s AI momentum?

LEAP is interesting because it reflects how quickly the technology conversation in Saudi Arabia is evolving.

A few years ago, much of the discussion was about digital transformation and cloud adoption. Today, the questions are more ambitious: How do we deploy AI at enterprise scale? How do we maintain sovereignty? How do we build Saudi capabilities and intellectual property? And, importantly, how do we turn all this investment into measurable outcomes?

At CNTXT, we want to make that conversation tangible.

We will showcase how secure cloud foundations, modern data and AI capabilities, and Saudi-built technology can come together in real operating environments. One example I am particularly proud of is inSafe, our industrial safety platform.

It is used by more than 30,000 users across large-scale Saudi industrial environments and combines operational controls with AI-driven intelligence to help organisations identify risks earlier and execute work more safely.

That, to me, is where AI becomes genuinely exciting.

The real test for AI is not whether it can produce an impressive answer on a screen. It is whether it can improve a decision in an industrial facility, help protect a worker, make an institution more productive or solve a problem that matters.

LEAP demonstrates that Saudi Arabia is increasingly moving from discussing the potential of AI to asking how we put it to work.

You’ve called AI sovereignty a “team sport” rather than a go-it-alone project. What does that look like in practice for Saudi Arabia?

It means being very clear about what Saudi Arabia must control, what we should build domestically and where partnership makes us stronger.

There is sometimes a misconception that sovereignty means building every capability in isolation. I think that can weaken sovereignty.

No country controls the entire AI stack. Semiconductors, infrastructure, models, energy, data, software, research and talent are distributed across an increasingly interconnected global ecosystem. Trying to replicate every layer domestically would be enormously expensive and, more importantly, could slow innovation.

Saudi Arabia has an opportunity to pursue a more intelligent model: build and own strategic capabilities at home, develop Saudi talent and intellectual property, maintain control over critical data and infrastructure, and partner with leading organisations globally where collaboration accelerates our progress.

This is why I called sovereignty a team sport.

Saudi Arabia also has an advantage that is sometimes underestimated: alignment. Vision 2030 has given government, industry, investors, universities and technology companies a remarkably clear direction of travel. In a technology cycle moving as quickly as AI, the ability to coordinate capital, infrastructure, policy and talent around a common objective is enormously powerful.

The countries that succeed in AI will not necessarily be those that try to own everything. They will be those that understand what they must control, know where they need partners, and build the domestic talent capable of connecting the two.

Sovereignty is not independence from the world. It is the ability to engage with the world from a position of capability, choice and control.

HH Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, has approved a sweeping package of social welfare measures that will raise the minimum monthly living standard for thousands of citizens to Dhs20,000, reinforcing the emirate’s long-standing focus on social protection and income security.

The directives, which took effect from September 1, 2026, cover government employees, government retirees, recipients of supplementary retirement grants and families receiving social assistance. Together, the measures will benefit more than 31,900 citizens and families and add over Dhs1.18bn to the Sharjah government’s annual expenditure.

The announcements were made by Abdullah Ibrahim Al Zaabi, chairman of Sharjah’s Department of Human Resources, during the “Direct Line” programme broadcast on Sharjah Radio and Television.

Under the directives, the minimum monthly living standard for 6,652 families receiving social assistance has been increased to Dhs20,000, at an annual cost of Dhs195.13m. The minimum monthly income for 2,251 retirees from the Sharjah government has also been raised to Dhs20,000, costing the government Dhs113.06m each year. Meanwhile, 5,300 retired citizens receiving supplementary grants despite not having worked for the Sharjah government will also see their minimum monthly living standard increased to the same level, with an annual cost of Dhs159m.

The largest allocation is directed towards Sharjah government employees, with the minimum monthly living standard set at Dhs20,000 for 17,776 staff across central and decentralised government entities. The measure alone will cost the emirate more than Dhs720m annually.

The latest package represents a significant expansion of Sharjah’s social support framework. Earlier this year, the Ruler of Sharjah increased the minimum monthly social assistance for beneficiaries of the Social Services Department to Dhs17,500 as part of broader efforts to enhance citizens’ quality of life. The new directives extend that approach further by establishing a Dhs20,000 minimum living standard across multiple beneficiary groups.

The Institute of Foundation Models (IFM) at Abu Dhabi’s Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) has launched K2 Horizon, a family of six artificial intelligence foundation models ranging from 0.9 billion to 375 billion parameters.

MBZUAI said all six models are being released with their weights, code, training data and methodology available, allowing researchers, developers and institutions to inspect, reproduce and adapt them.

The university described K2 Horizon as the largest fully open model release in AI history, based on the breadth of models and supporting resources being made available.

The family includes models with 0.9 billion, 3.7 billion, 7 billion and 32 billion parameters, alongside sparse models with 36 billion and 375 billion total parameters.

The smallest 0.9-billion-parameter model is designed for constrained devices such as smartwatches and glasses, while the 3.7-billion and 7-billion parameter versions target phones and other on-device applications, MBZUAI said.

The 32-billion parameter model is aimed at local hosting and on-premises servers. The 36-billion parameter model activates 4 billion parameters, while the flagship 375-billion parameter model activates 23 billion and is designed for more demanding reasoning, agentic and enterprise workloads.

MBZUAI said the three smallest models achieved state-of-the-art results in their respective size categories across areas including mathematics, reasoning, software engineering and agentic capabilities.

“We believe meaningful AI progress depends on the ability to examine, build upon, and improve the technology, not simply access it through an API,” said Eric Xing, founder of IFM and president and university professor of MBZUAI.

“The most important technology of our time should be built with the world, not kept from it. K2 Horizon is what that conviction looks like when an institution commits to it completely, and it reflects the environment we work in here in the UAE: a country that decided to build AI rather than wait for it.”

The six models share a core architecture, vocabulary, training methodology, interfaces and deployment tooling, with the 0.9-billion parameter model using a smaller vocabulary.

IFM has also introduced a dynamic model-routing technique designed to direct tasks to the most cost-effective model, allowing developers to move between different model sizes as their requirements change.

K2 Horizon uses what IFM calls “diffusion distillation”, a technique that generates blocks of tokens in parallel. MBZUAI said this speeds model performance by roughly three times without reducing response quality.

The models also incorporate a “mixture of value attention” architecture, which the university said improves reasoning without requiring additional computation.

“Rather than release a single model, we’re releasing an entire fleet at once, six models, from one small enough to run on a watch to a flagship built for enterprise reasoning,” said Hector Liu, director of IFM’s Silicon Valley Research Lab.

“Every model is built to compete with the best open models at its size, and everyone ships with the weights, code, training data, and methodology behind it. Developers can prototype on the smallest model, scale to the flagship, and verify every claim we make along the way.”

K2 Horizon follows earlier releases including K2, K2-Think and K2 Think V2 as IFM expands its work on openly available foundation models.

IFM was launched by MBZUAI in May 2025 and operates across Abu Dhabi, Silicon Valley and Paris.

The institute’s wider model portfolio includes the K2 series as well as Jais, an Arabic large language model, and PAN, a world model focused on embodied reasoning and real-world simulation.

MBZUAI is also a strategic knowledge partner in a UAE government programme aimed at training 80,000 federal employees as agentic AI experts. The programme is being delivered through collaboration with national universities and technology companies.

K2 Horizon models are available through Hugging Face and can also be deployed using vLLM and SGLang, MBZUAI said. APIs are available through IFM’s ecosystem of inference partners, including Compass, Cerebras, Amazon Web Services and Nebius.

The models and code are being released under the Apache 2.0 licence.