As governments worldwide race to harness artificial intelligence for better governance, Dubai has taken a bold leap forward. During the inaugural Dubai AI Week, Dubai Finance (DOF) unveiled ASCEND (AI-Assisted System for Compliance Verification and Recommendations) — the world’s first AI-powered platform for public finance compliance verification.

Announcing the launch, Abdulrahman Saleh Al Saleh, Director General of Dubai Finance, described ASCEND as a key pillar of the department’s AI-driven transformation strategy, designed to streamline operations and enhance financial governance standards.

“By embedding AI into our governance model, we are not only reinforcing accountability and agility but also strengthening Dubai’s global leadership in digital government,” said Al Saleh.

Huda Hamdan Al Shaikh, Executive Director of the Corporate Services Sector and CEO of AI at Dubai Finance, emphasized the platform’s role in overcoming challenges like fragmented data and labor-intensive compliance processes. “This platform introduces AI-led governance that replaces labour-intensive reviews with autonomous, real-time assessments,” she said.

ASCEND leverages open-source large language models (LLMs) and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to interpret legal texts, analyze financial systems, and verify adherence to regulations. It conducts risk assessments, identifies compliance gaps, aligns KPIs with legal standards, and generates bilingual, structured reports.

Fatma Buti Alsuwaidi, Director of the Strategy and Corporate Performance Division, highlighted ASCEND’s ability to translate insights into actionable steps. She stated that the platform “issues actionable recommendations and ensures the alignment of KPIs with regulatory standards.”

Hosted on UAE-based cloud infrastructure, ASCEND is fully compliant with national Information Security Regulation guidelines, ensuring data security and sovereignty. The platform’s launch during Dubai AI Week not only showcased the city’s leadership in public sector AI innovation but also set a new global benchmark for the future of intelligent financial governance.