SAS says it has made its SAS AI Navigator available in the UAE, positioning the product as a software-as-a-service tool to support AI governance for compliance and risk leaders. The company stated that the solution is available on the Microsoft Marketplace and is intended to help organizations build visibility into the AI models and tools they use.
According to SAS, AI Navigator enables leaders to compile an AI inventory and align AI use cases with government regulations and internal policies. SAS said the product is designed to integrate with existing AI development workflows, providing what it describes as a unified view of models and tools already in use, including large language models, AI agents, and open source or SAS models.
SAS also said customers will receive six months of free access to SAS AI Navigator. The launch date cited in the announcement is 3 November 2026.
Company comments on AI governance needs
Reggie Townsend, Vice President of SAS AI Ethics, Governance and Social Impact, said that “Trustworthy AI doesn’t happen by accident” and that SAS AI Navigator is meant to help organizations create visibility and accountability for using AI “confidently, responsibly and at scale.” SAS UAE Managing Director Michel Ghorayeb added that as AI adoption accelerates, organizations need governance and accountability alongside innovation.
UAE context and research cited by SAS
SAS linked the announcement to broader AI adoption in the UAE, including the UAE National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031. The company cited a SAS report, 2026 Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust, which it said includes research insights from IDC.
In the announcement, SAS referenced findings that organizations “that get trust right” are 15 times more likely to see strong returns on AI. SAS also said the report highlights an enterprise challenge in which employees override AI recommendations when they cannot understand or explain how decisions were made. For the UAE, SAS cited that 62.2% of organizations identified data quality and governance as a factor for AI reliability, while 41.1% of respondents cited insufficient explanation as the leading reason for overriding AI recommendations.
How SAS says the product works
SAS AI Navigator, the company said, supports a full lifecycle approach from experimentation to deployment and through retirement. The firm described the product as providing a unified view of governed assets, whether developed in-house or acquired from third parties.
SAS said users can apply internal policies and external regulations and frameworks to AI use cases. The announcement also referenced “policy packs” from SAS Partners, including Protiviti and Asenion, which SAS said offer pre-built collections of compliance guidelines with ready-to-use questions and risk classifications that can be applied to use cases.
The release stated that trust and AI governance are particularly important in regulated industries such as health care. It noted that Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC) in the Netherlands was an early tester exploring potential use in health care for AI governance and policy oversight.
Placement on Microsoft Marketplace
SAS said the UAE availability of AI Navigator on Microsoft Marketplace is intended to complement its partnership with Microsoft. SAS stated that the solution helps organizations manage AI use cases across environments including Microsoft Azure, while maintaining governance, transparency and trust.
In the announcement, SAS described AI Navigator as a standalone SaaS offering for both new and existing SAS customers, and said it adds to a portfolio of SAS governance offerings. SAS also said it has 50 years of experience in data and AI software delivery.
