Saudi organisations are reporting strong returns from artificial intelligence, even as many lack the infrastructure needed to support more autonomous IT operations, according to findings from Riverbed’s State of Autonomous IT Operations survey.
Ninety percent of respondents said their AI initiatives had met or exceeded their original return-on-investment goals, while 66% increased AI investment over the past year. The survey also found that 85% want human-supervised or highly autonomous IT operations within two years.
However, only 22% said they currently have fully unified visibility across networks, applications, endpoints and cloud environments. Since AI relies on the data available to it, Riverbed said these visibility gaps could limit the safe expansion of automation.
Governance remains another consideration. While 54% of Saudi respondents said they were extremely confident in their AI governance and human-oversight capabilities, 77% reported internal hesitation about allowing AI to make operational decisions without human approval. Ninety-three percent said AI assurance, observability and governance will become a critical IT domain.
The Saudi findings are based on 100 respondents, forming part of a global survey of 1,200 business and technology leaders across seven countries. Riverbed’s research partner, Coleman Parkes, conducted the survey in July 2026.
Source: Middle East AI News
