Emirates Group and OpenAI have entered into a strategic collaboration to advance artificial intelligence (AI) adoption and innovation across the airline.
The collaboration includes a company-wide rollout of ChatGPT Enterprise, supported by customized AI literacy programs, technical exploration, and executive alignment to embed AI capabilities throughout the organization.
Emirates and OpenAI will also work together to explore opportunities to introduce practical use cases, develop an internal AI champion network, and establish an AI center of excellence (CoE).
Emirates Group partners with OpenAI
The collaboration will identify key areas for enhancing and expanding AI capabilities across the organization covering critical skills, processes, and technology needed to power Emirates into the next era.
Emirates will benefit from early access to OpenAI’s latest research and emerging innovations, along with opportunities to collaborate on government-led innovation programs and accelerators, according to the announcement.
Together, Emirates and OpenAI will host dedicated leadership sessions to explore real-world applications, strengthen executive sponsorship for AI initiatives, and offer visibility into OpenAI’s product roadmap to support long-term planning.
OpenAI and Emirates’ technology teams will also work closely to optimize model integration, establish best practices for rapid prototyping and deployment, and create sandbox environments to accelerate experimentation across generative AI use cases.
Register for All Access: AI in PEX 2026!
Emirates Group sees “enormous potential for AI”
“We see enormous potential for AI technology to support our business requirements, helping us tackle complex commercial challenges, strengthening our operations, and enhancing the customer experience,” said Ali Serdar Yakut, EVP IT at Emirates Group. “Closely working with OpenAI will make our technology investments both strategic and scalable, enabling us to deliver enhanced value to our employees and customers, fundamentally changing how we innovate, deliver value, and maintain our competitive edge in the industry.”
Emirates Group has laid out a bold vision for how AI can transform the future of aviation, commented Rod Solaimani, regional director, MENA and Central Asia at OpenAI. “With this collaboration, we’re proud to help them bring that vision to life – embedding intelligence across their operations, empowering teams with powerful new tools, and reimagining the travel experience for millions of customers.”
Join us at All Access: Agentic AI 2026!
AI is revolutionizing business transformation
The ongoing evolution of AI-driven business transformation is a standout theme in the PEX Report 2025/26. Businesses are prioritizing AI adoption in the coming year, while almost three-quarters (70 percent) state that AI is either “critical” or “very important” to their organization’s strategic goals.
Organizations are using a variety of AI types to support business transformation, the report found. Almost two-thirds (63 percent) use generative AI, with 62 percent using standard/traditional AI and 40 percent using AI agents/agentic AI. More than half (59 percent) of businesses are planning to invest in agentic AI/AI agents in the next 12 months, followed by generative AI (58 percent) and standard/traditional AI (43 percent).
Efficiency is by far the biggest driver of AI-enhanced business transformation, selected by 43 percent of respondents. This is followed by automation (14 percent), cost reduction (10 percent), innovation (9 percent), competitive pressure (8 percent) and customer experience (5 percent).