Adoption Rising, Risks Mounting, Readiness Gaps Persist
This report provides objective, data-driven insights into how Artificial Intelligence (AI), with a particular focus on Generative AI (GenAI), is advancing across the region. It examines adoption levels, organizational readiness, and associated risks, offering guidance for credit card companies, payment providers, financial institutions, and corporate clients.
AI adoption grows, but scaling remains limited
By late 2024, nearly 60% of Middle Eastern firms reported fast adoption, but only 14-28% had scaled AI across business functions. Skills shortages, uneven cloud infrastructure, and governance gaps continue to slow progress.
Financial services lead, risks remain high
In 2024, close to nine in ten GCC CEOs reported using GenAI, exceeding global averages. Yet over 60% of firms cite cybersecurity threats and more than 50% point to compliance as their top risks, while cost overruns and talent shortages limit execution.
“AI adoption is advancing across the Middle East, with financial services among the leading sectors,” said the founder and CEO of the research firm. “At the same time, organizations face clear readiness gaps in skills, infrastructure, and governance that will shape the pace of implementation.”
National strategies drive growth
Governments in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar are pushing large-scale AI agendas backed by sovereign wealth funds. Qatar’s market is forecast to rise from over EUR 380 million in 2024 to nearly EUR 1.8 billion by 2030, a CAGR of about 30%. Across the GCC, GenAI is expected to generate over USD 23 billion annually, around 2% of GDP.
Key questions answered:
- What was the share of organizations in the Middle East reporting fast AI adoption in 2024?
- What were the top business functions for GenAI use in the GCC in 2024?
- What was the main barrier to AI adoption in the Middle East in 2024?
- How costly were linguistic and infrastructure gaps for AI projects in the Middle East in 2025?
- What risks did Saudi Arabia associate with GenAI in 2025?
Countries covered:
- Saudi Arabia
- UAE
- Qatar
Table of Contents
1. Key Takeaways2. Management Summary
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Companies Mentioned (Partial List)
A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes, but is not limited to:
- Emirates
- Carrefour
- Aramex
- Etisalat
- Google Cloud
- Microsoft
- IBM
- Oracle
- Ooredoo
- NVIDIA
- Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI)
- Qatar Development Bank (QDB)
- Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP)
- Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Qatar (MCIT)
- Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI)
