ISO/IEC 42001:2023 is the world’s first international standard for an AI management system. It gives organisations a structured way to handle AI-related risks and opportunities while raising governance, reliability and continual improvement across the board. etisalat UAE now holds that accredited AI certification in the UAE, confirmed by an independent assessment from LRQA, a global assurance, inspection and certification provider. LRQA is accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service to certify organisations against the standard. The word accredited carries weight here. It means a recognised authority checked the checker, so the result is not self-declared.
For etisalat UAE, the certification marks a shift from running AI at scale to governing it through a system that someone outside the company verified. That distinction is the whole point.
From the rule to the ripple for you
Why should an ordinary customer care about a management standard? Because AI governance decides how your data gets handled, how automated decisions are checked, and whether a human stays in the loop. The responsible AI framework behind this certification sets requirements covering accountability, AI risk and impact assessments, lifecycle controls, transparency, human oversight, performance evaluation, and continual improvement. In plain terms, the company has to assess the risk of an AI tool before it reaches you, keep watching it after launch, and keep a person able to step in.
Marwan Bin Shakar, Chief Technology Officer at etisalat UAE, framed the logic directly. He said strong governance has to grow alongside technical capability as AI spreads across services and operations. He added that the standard supports managing AI risk, evaluating impact, and keeping appropriate human oversight across the full lifecycle, which lets the company apply consistent controls while it scales.
How the system was built
The certification did not come from one team. It pulled together Technology and Information, AI Engineering and Factory, Business Excellence, and the owners of individual business use cases. That spread matters because it shows AI risk management is being embedded across the organisation rather than bolted onto single projects.
The framework lands at a moment when etisalat UAE keeps widening its AI footprint. That includes agentic AI integrations, AI-enabled cybersecurity, and collaborative research. Named examples include the University of Sharjah AI Innovation Lab and the NetSecure360 cybersecurity solution. As these applications multiply, consistent governance becomes harder to skip.
What it means for partners and customers
For customers and technology partners, the AI management system offers clearer sight of how AI-enabled services are run. It sets common expectations around risk and responsible deployment, with governance processes that span design, development, deployment, monitoring and continual improvement. If you are a business partner weighing a collaboration, you now have a defined set of controls to point to rather than a promise.
The certification also feeds etisalat’s stated goal of becoming a leading AI-powered and enabling telco. It reinforces the company’s Responsible AI Framework with defined requirements for governance, accountability and continual improvement.
Where this sits in the national picture
The achievement lines up with the UAE’s broader push to lead on AI investment, capability and safe use. The country has built a governance-first reputation through its National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031 and the 2024 UAE Charter for AI, which sets out priorities for responsible use. A telecom operator earning accredited AI certification in the UAE adds a private-sector proof point to that national ambition.
Independently assessed governance is becoming a competitive asset, not a compliance afterthought. For you, the reader, the takeaway is simple. The AI tools shaping your phone plan, your network security, and your customer service now sit inside a checked system, and that check came from outside the company.
