AI agents could change how people access government and other digital services by helping them prove eligibility without revealing unnecessary personal information, technology leaders said at a recent Abu Dhabi panel.
The discussion, titled ‘The Human City: The city that thinks: who does it think for?’, brought together Siri founder Tom Gruber, YouTube co-founder Steve Chen, Mal founder Abdallah Abu-Sheikh and Origen CEO Frank Dai. The panel explored how AI could influence the next generation of smart cities.
Gruber said, “Personal AI agents could understand an individual's circumstances and navigate complex services on their behalf. Instead of sharing complete medical or financial records, users could provide a trusted digital credential that confirms whether they meet specific eligibility requirements.”
For instance, a resident seeking a transport benefit linked to a medical condition could potentially provide proof from an authorised source without disclosing the underlying diagnosis. The city would receive the information required to deliver the service while limiting access to sensitive personal details.
This model could also help residents discover benefits they qualify for based on income, health or other circumstances. AI agents could interpret complicated eligibility rules and identify relevant services without forcing users to navigate multiple government portals themselves.
However, deploying such systems will require more than adding AI to existing digital infrastructure. Dai said governments must prepare data in formats that AI systems can reliably interpret.
Traditional smart-city programmes have focused on data quality and breaking down information silos. Agentic AI adds another requirement: data must be structured and accessible in ways that support reliable machine reasoning. Secure computing infrastructure will also remain critical. Recent developments underline that concern. Meta's Muse agent can connect to email, calendars, payments, health services and other applications, while allowing users to control individual connections.
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