Software-as-a-Service solution arrives on Microsoft Marketplace at a time when AI trust is at a premium
Dubai, UAE –November 2026: SAS, a global leader in data and AI, has announced that SAS AI Navigator is now available in the UAE to help AI, data, compliance and risk leaders bring order to AI chaos. The new SaaS AI governance solution, available on Microsoft Marketplace, enables leaders to compile a complete AI inventory and align AI use cases with government regulations and internal policies. Organizations do not need to change how they build AI; SAS AI Navigator offers a unified view of the models and tools they already use, including LLMs, AI agents and open source or SAS models.
Customers will receive free access to SAS AI Navigator for six months.
“Trustworthy AI doesn’t happen by accident. It requires intention, transparency and the right governance structures from the start,” said Reggie Townsend, Vice President, SAS AI Ethics, Governance and Social Impact. “With SAS AI Navigator, organizations can create the visibility and accountability needed to use AI confidently, responsibly and at scale.”
AI governance becomes a growing priority:
As the UAE accelerates AI adoption under national initiatives such as the UAE National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031, the need for greater transparency, accountability and effective governance is becoming increasingly important.
The 2026 Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust, a new SAS report with research insights from IDC, shows that organizations that get trust right are 15 times more likely to see strong returns on AI. The report also highlights a growing enterprise challenge: as AI becomes more autonomous, employees often override its recommendations when they cannot understand or explain how decisions were made.
Findings from the UAE reinforce the importance of governance. 62.2% of organizations identified data quality and governance as a key factor for AI reliability, while 41.1% of respondents cited insufficient explanation as the leading reason for overriding AI recommendations.
“As AI adoption accelerates across the UAE, organizations need to ensure that innovation is matched by strong governance and accountability. SAS AI Navigator gives leaders greater visibility and control over their AI initiatives, helping them manage risk, build trust and scale AI with confidence,” said Michel Ghorayeb, Managing Director, SAS UAE.
Bringing greater visibility to AI governance:
SAS AI Navigator supports the full journey from experimentation to deployment through retirement, providing a unified view of all governed assets whether built in-house or purchased from third parties. SAS AI Navigator also makes it easy for users to apply internal policies and external regulations and frameworks to AI use cases.
Policy packs from SAS Partners such as Protiviti and Asenion offer customers out-of-the-box collections of compliance guidelines designed to help organizations quickly adopt new AI technologies responsibly. Instead of writing a complex company policy from scratch, policy packs provide ready-to-use questions and risk classifications that can be quickly applied to use cases.
Trust and AI governance are particularly critical in highly regulated industries like health care. Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC) in the Netherlands was an early tester of SAS AI Navigator, exploring its potential to support AI governance and policy oversight in health care.
Building on SAS’ longstanding partnership with Microsoft:
The launch of SAS AI Navigator on Microsoft Marketplace complements SAS’ longstanding strategic partnership with Microsoft. The solution helps organizations manage AI use cases across different environments, including Microsoft Azure, while maintaining governance, transparency and trust.
SAS AI Navigator is a standalone SaaS solution that works for SAS’ new or existing customers. It is the latest addition to a growing portfolio of SAS AI governance offerings designed to meet organizations where they are in their AI maturity. SAS has 50 years of experience helping customers deploy transformational technologies in a responsible manner, bringing this expertise to organizations looking to scale AI with greater confidence and accountability.
About SAS:
SAS is a global leader in data and AI, helping organizations make confident decisions with AI they can trust. For decades, SAS has set the standard for delivering software that drives meaningful impact, incorporating deep industry expertise, transparency and governance. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW®.
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