Today's Edition
ISIDORA CIRIC (ABU DHABI)
The UAE has locked its place among the world's most advanced AI adopters, ranking third globally in the new AI Adoption Index 2023-2025, behind only Singapore and Chile.
The index, compiled by tech research outlet CyberNews, looks at downloads of the 100 most popular AI applications on Apple's App Store and Google Play across 64 countries, then adjusts the data for population to estimate how widely these tools are used.
Only apps where AI is the core function qualify for inclusion - platforms that added AI features on top of an existing product do not. Countries with unreliable download data were excluded from the sample.
Across all countries, average adoption stands at about 25%, with 1.2 billion AI app downloads recorded in 2025. By contrast, the UAE records an estimated 56% adoption rate, placing it first in the MENA region and well ahead of larger markets like the US and the UK.
Country-wide consumer AI adoption stood at 10% in 2023, rising to 27% in 2024 before more than doubling to 56% in 2025. App downloads, meanwhile, surged from 1.1 million in 2023 to 2.9 million in 2024 and 6.3 million in 2025 - a 107% jump in a single year and one of the fastest growth curves in the dataset.
The CyberNews index is the latest in a run of AI and digital indicators where the UAE now routinely appears near the top.
A Microsoft AI Diffusion Report published in January found that 64% of the UAE's working-age population was using generative AI tools by the end of 2025, the highest rate globally and more than three percentage points ahead of second-placed Singapore.
That report linked the position to policy decisions taken years before the current wave of consumer AI products arrived: the UAE appointed the world's first Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence in 2017 and built out a national strategy defining nine priority sectors, ranging from health and education to space and renewable energy.
In government service delivery, the UAE, alongside Singapore and Saudi Arabia, led a 14-country study on AI proactivity published last month by Accenture and the World Governments Summit. The UAE stood out for applying AI to anticipate resident needs by life event - covering health, education and licensing - rather than simply automating existing processes, the report showed. Resident satisfaction with digital government services has reached 85%.
The report also found that 90% of UAE public sector workers are encouraged to use AI in their jobs and that 63% have received skills training and recognised certifications.
The private sector follows a similar pattern. According to PwC's 29th Global CEO Survey, published in January, 85% of UAE chief executives confirmed that their company culture supports AI adoption, 75% reported having a clear AI roadmap, and 45% already use AI in demand generation across sales, marketing, and customer service - all well above global averages.
The Oliver Wyman Industry 5.0 Index, also published in January, ranked the UAE ninth globally and first in the Middle East on a resilience pillar covering digital infrastructure, cybersecurity, and AI investment.
As key drivers, the report cited the national AI strategy's projection that technology will account for 20% of non-oil GDP by 2031; a 6G network target for 2030; Abu Dhabi's ambition to become a fully AI-native government by 2027; and the Stargate UAE data centre project.
