UAE’s Artificial Intelligence investment hit $2.15 bn according to Report

Media IN DUBAI, 11th June, 2019 (WAM)

According to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Maturity Report in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) a new study commissioned by Microsoft and conducted by Ernst & Young, EY,  the UAE is the second highest regional investor in Artificial Intelligence (AI) over the past 10 years, investing $2.15 bn in total,

The report said that most of its investment went towards social media and Internet of Things, IoT, transactions. This was followed by notable spending across a further eight technologies, including smart mobile, gamification, and machine learning.

In fact, respondents ranked machine learning as the most useful AI technology, with primary emphasis placed on decision support solutions. This was followed by smart robotics and text analysis, where customer interactions were the key focus.

The new research shows the state of AI within businesses across the UAE is expected to improve dramatically over the next three years, particularly as a growing number of executives look to AI to drive their digital agendas.

In fact, 94 percent of companies in the UAE report involvement in AI at executive management level – the highest percentage of any surveyed country in MEA.

Leadership capability in the UAE is also rated high when compared with other countries in MEA. While 64 percent of respondents believe they have moderate, little or no AI leadership competency, 24 percent of executives in the UAE rated themselves as highly competent, with another 46 percent indicating they are either competent or very competent.

The UAE’s open culture around AI is another highly positive indicator of the health of the technology within the country. Up 94 percent of UAE companies have ‘AI Strategy’ as an important topic at C-suite level and a significant 35 percent of companies say AI discussions are filtering down from top management right the way through to non-managerial levels.

“The country has made significant progress in elevating its AI agenda over the past three years, and all indicators point to the near future bringing significant improvement in the application of the technology as well.”