Google Gemini Tops UAE’s First ‘AI in the Ring’ Cultural Intelligence Index

The UAE’s Office of Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications has revealed that Google’s Gemini has secured the top position in the inaugural “AI in the Ring” Index—the world’s first benchmark assessing how well AI language models understand and reflect Emirati culture, traditions, dialects, and national values.

The ranking follows an extensive evaluation in which more than 400 culturally focused questions were posed across seven dimensions, generating 5,200 responses from 11 leading AI models. A panel of Emirati cultural experts reviewed the outputs, scoring each model on cultural accuracy, sensitivity, and depth of understanding. Gemini emerged as the best-performing system.

Trailing closely behind Gemini 2.5 Pro, the top performers list also included ChatGPT (OpenAI GPT-4o), ChatGPT (OpenAI o1), Cohere, and Grok, marking them as the five models most effective at demonstrating cultural awareness in a UAE-specific context.

His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, emphasized the significance of the findings, highlighting that national identity must remain central as digital transformation accelerates. He stressed that advanced technologies must strengthen—not dilute—the UAE’s values, ensuring AI solutions preserve the country’s cultural heritage with authenticity and respect.

The Minister also pointed to the growing urgency of culturally aligned AI. With less than 5% of Arabic content digitized globally, and nearly half of Generation Z turning to AI as their primary information source, he warned that ensuring AI models are trained on accurate, context-rich Emirati cultural data is essential to safeguarding identity for future generations.