The questions UAE buyers actually ask.
Pricing, regulation, agentic AI, the rescue offer, and how an engagement actually runs.
Pricing and engagement
What does an AI consultant in Dubai actually cost?▾
Real ranges: AI Opportunity Audit AED 25K–45K (credited into the build); Agentic AI Transition Program AED 90K–180K; vertical packs AED 50K–220K; AI Operations Retainer AED 12K–30K/month. All AED, +5% VAT. No public hourly rate.
How does payment work?▾
Audits 100% on signature (credited into the build if signed in 90 days). Builds 40/30/30 or 50/30/20 across milestones. Retainers monthly, invoiced in advance, 3-month minimum.
What is your refund / cancellation policy?▾
Audits are non-refundable but credit 100% into a follow-on program signed in 90 days. Builds follow the milestone schedule. Retainers can be cancelled with 30-day notice after the 3-month minimum.
Can you do a smaller scope than what's published?▾
Sometimes. The published tiers are the most common shapes. Book a fit call and we'll tell you straight if a smaller scope is viable or if you should wait until the budget is right.
UAE AI regulation
Is there a UAE AI Act?▾
No. UAE AI governance is a patchwork: PDPL (Federal Decree-Law 45/2021), DIFC Regulation 10, CBUAE Guidance, ADGM/DMCC, Dubai AI Seal, the Dubai Universal Blueprint for AI. Anyone selling against a fictional UAE AI Act is the wrong vendor.
Is there a 1-billion-dirham AI fine?▾
No. AED 1B is the general administrative-penalty ceiling for unlicensed or breaching financial activity under Federal Decree-Law 6/2025. It is not an AI-specific fine. The CBUAE AI/ML Guidance Note (Feb 2026) is formally non-binding — but it is a supervisory expectation.
What's the Dubai AI Seal?▾
A Dubai Future Foundation certification. Mandatory for any company in Dubai government projects. Four tiers (Emerging / Scaling / Established / Sustainable). Increasingly an expectation in private-sector procurement too.
Does DIFC Reg 10 apply if we only use third-party AI?▾
Yes. The vendor is a data processor; you are the controller. Your Reg 10 obligations do not transfer to the vendor.
How we work
Will you sign an NDA?▾
Yes, mutual NDA on request, before any discovery begins. Standard for every engagement.
Will you sub the work to a Big-4 or offshore team?▾
No. The founder runs every engagement. A tight, vetted bench is used selectively when scope requires it — disclosed in advance, no surprise resourcing.
Do you work in Arabic?▾
Bilingual EN/AR — Arabic on home, services, and regulatory pillars; full Arabic delivery on bilingual engagements. Arabic is a trust + conversion layer, not an SEO acquisition channel.
How quickly can you start?▾
An audit can kick off within a week of signature. Builds within 2–3 weeks. We hold capacity for one Pilot, one Department, and one Enterprise engagement at a time.
Do you work outside Dubai?▾
DIFC and DMCC entities, yes. Wider UAE on a case-by-case basis. Abu Dhabi sovereign and Hub71 core procurement is closed to non-resident solo vendors; that work routes through Tier-S primes.
Agentic AI specifically
What is 'agentic' AI vs just 'AI'?▾
Agentic = AI that takes actions on your systems, not just answers questions. This is where governance bites hardest (retrieval, evals, oversight, kill-switches) and where the Dubai 4 May 2026 private-sector mandate points.
We tried an AI agent and rolled it back — can you fix it?▾
Yes — the AI Agent Reliability Sprint (AED 45K–120K, 3–8 weeks). Failure audit, retrieval rebuild, escalation flows, evals + monitoring. Vendor-neutral.
What if our agent is on a vendor we want to leave?▾
We've rebuilt agents originally shipped on OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, and bespoke stacks. We'll tell you honestly when 'rebuild' beats 'fix in place'.