MUSCAT: Specialised legal artificial intelligence tailored to regional legal systems is set to advance in Oman following a partnership between Oman National Engineering and Investment Company (ONEIC) and HAQQ Inc, announced during the Oman Legal Tech Summit 2026.

The agreement was signed by Dr Rashid bin Mohammed bin Jumaa al Ghailani, CEO of ONEIC; Antoine Kanaan, CEO of HAQQ Inc; and Abbas Kabalan, Chief Legal Officer and Co-Founder of HAQQ Inc, marking a step towards developing locally aligned legal-technology solutions for institutions in the Sultanate of Oman and the wider region.

The signing coincided with Kabalan’s keynote presentation, titled “AI in Law: From Disruption to Regulation Attention”, where he highlighted the growing need for specialised legal AI platforms built on regional legal frameworks rather than relying solely on general-purpose global systems.

Kabalan warned that the dominance of “general AI” models — often trained primarily on Western legal datasets — can fail to capture the legal, cultural and procedural nuances of Arab jurisdictions. According to him, this mismatch risks producing standardised outputs that do not adequately reflect local legal realities.

“We are witnessing a shift from experimentation to real utility in AI, but the legal profession cannot rely on systems that ignore local legal ontology and institutional context”, Kabalan said. “What we need is Legal AI that strengthens professional judgment rather than replacing it”.

He added that artificial intelligence should function as an enabling tool that accelerates research, organises legal knowledge and analyses evidence, while leaving decision-making in the hands of legal professionals. “AI must remain an engine that empowers the legal mind, not a mechanism that erases the difference between expertise and inexperience”, he noted.

Officials said the ONEIC–HAQQ collaboration will focus on exploring the deployment of specialised legal AI solutions that support regulatory compliance, contract analysis, document management and institutional knowledge systems across public and private organisations. The initiative also aims to contribute to building regional legal-technology capabilities that reflect national legal structures and linguistic requirements.

The partnership reflects growing interest in legal-technology investment across the Gulf as governments and companies seek to modernise regulatory processes, improve efficiency and develop sovereign digital capabilities aligned with national legal frameworks.

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