AI adoption among UAE businesses reached 72% in 2026, up from 53% a year earlier, according to a report from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the UAE Artificial Intelligence Office, produced with Strand Partners.
The report found that 85% of companies using AI have accelerated their innovation timelines. However, adoption remains uneven: 47% of businesses are still using AI mainly for routine tasks, while 31% have reached a transformative stage with custom, agentic or autonomous systems.
Startups are leading larger businesses in adoption, with 88% using AI compared with 51% of large UAE companies. Among startups using AI, 53% are applying advanced use cases and 61% report significant productivity gains. Adoption is highest in media and entertainment, financial services, retail and hospitality.
Skills shortages remain a major constraint. Businesses reported an average 5.8-month wait to recruit qualified digital talent, while 81% said they would offer a 39% salary premium to secure it. Only 9% of companies have fully deployed agentic AI.
AWS said it is investing up to AED 20.1 billion ($5.47 billion) in its UAE cloud region through 2037. It has also partnered with e& enterprise on a $1 billion UAE Sovereign Launchpad and launched a program to train 30,000 people.
Source: Middle East AI News
