Today's Edition
A. SREENIVASA REDDY (ABU DHABI)
The UAE has emerged as the global leader in artificial intelligence adoption, with 59.4% of its working-age population now using AI tools, the highest rate worldwide, according to the newly released AI Diffusion Report by Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab.
The report — based on activity data drawn from over one billion Windows devices globally — offers one of the most detailed analyses yet of how AI technologies are being adopted across regions. It measures how far the world has come in using generative AI tools such as Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Midjourney, and introduces two new metrics: the AI Frontier Index, which tracks where breakthroughs are created, and the AI Infrastructure Index, which measures the capacity to build and scale these technologies.
The findings place the UAE ahead of all other nations, with its AI usage far exceeding global averages and even advanced digital economies such as Singapore and Norway. The report attributes this exceptional performance to the country’s strong digital infrastructure, forward-looking policy frameworks, and education systems that promote technology fluency and innovation.
Neighbouring Gulf countries also showed strong momentum: Qatar ranked second regionally with 35.7% adoption, followed by Saudi Arabia (23.7%), Kuwait (17.7%), and Egypt (12.5%), underscoring a region-wide transformation driven by government investment and strategic emphasis on AI readiness.
On a global scale, AI tools have now reached more than one billion users in less than three years — making it the fastest-spreading technology in history, the report notes. Yet, it also reveals that AI adoption remains uneven: usage in the Global North is nearly double that in the Global South, reflecting disparities in language availability, infrastructure, and digital skills.
The AI Diffusion Report aims to provide policymakers, researchers, and industry leaders with a clearer understanding of how and where AI is being used, as well as the socio-economic and infrastructural factors shaping its diffusion.
According to the report, the Middle East is becoming a critical region for AI diffusion, with the UAE setting a global benchmark for readiness, accessibility, and responsible innovation. The country’s progress highlights how targeted national strategies and early investments in AI education, data ecosystems, and cloud infrastructure can rapidly accelerate technology adoption at scale.
The report concludes that the UAE’s leadership is not only transforming its own economy but also positioning it as a model for emerging markets seeking to bridge the global AI divide.
