Today's Edition
KHALED AL KHAWALDEH (ABU DHABI)
The United Arab Emirates leads the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in the latest Government AI Readiness Index, ranking 12th globally for the year 2024.
The annual report published by Oxford Insights rated 188 Governments across the world on how ready they are to integrate AI into public service delivery. It examined 40 indicators across three pillars: government, technology sector, and data and infrastructure.
The UAE maintained its lead in the region whilst climbing six places in the global ranking – from 18th last year. It scored highly in government preparedness, with a strong vision for the future and good governance structures. It also scored highly in the data and infrastructure categories, with many departments assessed to already have strong digital capacity and data availability.
However, some points were lost in the technology sector, due to its lack of maturity, which meant innovation capacity and human capital were yet to fully develop.
Nevertheless, the report highlighted the UAE's growing influence within the global AI ecosystem.
"MENA's strong results in leading countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia highlight its growing capacity for innovation and infrastructure development, even as gaps remain across the wider region," the report read.
"The United Arab Emirates leads the region with a score of 75.66, entering the global top 15. Israel (74.52) and Saudi Arabia (72.36) follow closely behind, further solidifying MENA's leadership in AI readiness."
The report also highlighted the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development's (ADFD) $100 million to support the digital transformation of Jordan's health sector, as one of the key AI readiness developments of 2024.
The Index was led by the United States of America, followed by Singapore, with the US's highly mature and innovative technology sector outpacing the rest of the world and giving it a strong advantage.
However, whilst the top of the rankings continued to be dominated by high-income countries, the report highlighted growing momentum across middle- and low-income countries. This included the launch of AI strategies in countries across sub–Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
