Multi-year agreement will bring governed AI agents into business operations, with DataRobot’s Agent Workforce Platform hosted in Etisalat UAE’s own data centre.
Etisalat UAE and DataRobot have extended their strategic partnership through a new multi-year agreement to develop, deploy and govern agentic AI across the telecom operator’s business units, reinforcing the focus on secure and sovereign enterprise AI.
Under the agreement, Etisalat UAE will use DataRobot’s Agent Workforce Platform within its broader sovereign AI ecosystem. Hosting the platform in its own data centre will allow the telecom operator to retain control over sensitive data, AI workloads and access permissions while expanding the use of AI agents in business processes.
The initiative brings predictive, generative and agentic AI capabilities under a common governance framework. It reflects the shift from AI systems that primarily generate insights towards agents capable of taking action within enterprise workflows, where oversight, security and accountability become critical.
“Etisalat UAE is showing what enterprise AI looks like when innovation, sovereignty and governance are designed together.” — Haissam Hassan, META General Manager, DataRobot
“Etisalat UAE’s partnership with DataRobot has strengthened the governance of our growing Machine Learning portfolio while significantly increasing our agility,” said Antonietta Mastroianni, chief information officer at Etisalat UAE. She added that the company is building on this foundation to adopt agentic AI while maintaining enterprise-scale trust and governance.
The companies have collaborated since 2022, initially scaling predictive AI applications in customer value management, including churn prevention, upselling and cross-selling, and credit risk optimisation.
The expanded partnership will build on these capabilities while embedding AI expertise within business units. Departmental AI champions and a governed enterprise sandbox will support the development and testing of use cases across customer experience, regulatory compliance, sales effectiveness and operational efficiency.
Morad Al Shark, director of AI Engineering & Factory at Etisalat UAE, said the company was extending the governance and security practices of its existing machine-learning platform into a broader AI ecosystem.
For DataRobot, the agreement highlights the growing importance of combining agentic AI adoption with data sovereignty and operational safeguards. As enterprises move AI agents into production, the partnership aims to support deployment at scale without relinquishing control over sensitive information and critical business processes.
