AI could do half their job, 60% of GCC workers say

Dubai: Six in 10 frontline employees across the GCC believe AI agents could perform at least half of their current job responsibilities within the next three years.

AI is already firmly embedded in workplaces across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, with 93% of frontline employees using it at least several times a week, according to Boston Consulting Group’s latest AI at Work report.

Usage among managers and leaders is even higher at 95%, putting the GCC alongside India among the leading markets for workplace AI adoption and ahead of the global frontline employee adoption rate of 74%.

The impact is increasingly visible in the amount of time employees are saving. Around 58% of frontline workers in the GCC said AI saves them at least eight hours each week, while the figure rises to 67% among managers and leaders.

Skills expected from workers are changing

High adoption is also changing what employers and workplaces expect from their people, with 85% of frontline employees saying AI has altered the skills expected of them in their roles.

Among managers and leaders, that rises to 92%.

"The GCC's exceptional AI adoption rates reflect a workforce that has moved decisively beyond experimentation into real integration," said Robert Xu, Managing Director and Partner at BCG X. "What distinguishes the highest-performing organisations in this region is not simply their deployment of AI tools, but their deep investment in their people. Compared to other organisations in their cohort, GCC organisations that lead with AI have leaders personally invested in building their teams' AI fluency, resulting in tangible productivity gains and turning technological advantage into competitive edge."

Workers are also reporting improvements in how they feel about their jobs. Some 69% of frontline employees across the GCC said they experienced increased joy at work after adopting AI, rising to 77% among managers and leaders.

Xu added, "While this year's GCC findings demonstrate AI's ability to reduce toil and increase joy at work, leaders must anticipate the organisational shifts ahead by embedding comprehensive change management and redesigning workflows to fully harness AI's potential.”

AI agents could take on more work

Expectations around AI agents are particularly high, with 60% of frontline employees believing the technology could carry out at least half of their existing job responsibilities within three years.

The figure reaches 66% among managers and leaders.

Concern over potential job losses remains considerably lower. Some 28% of frontline employees said they feared losing their positions to AI, while 29% of managers and leaders expressed the same concern.

BCG said the use of AI agents in workflows globally has more than doubled since 2025, although governance frameworks have not kept pace with their growing adoption.

Workers are saving hours, but guidance remains limited

The report also points to a gap between the amount of time AI is saving employees and how companies are helping them use those hours.

Globally, 42% of frontline employees who regularly use AI save the equivalent of a full working day or more each week, while 66% receive limited or no guidance on where that recovered time should be redirected.

More than half do not direct the time saved towards strategic work, according to BCG.

"The promisingly rapid initial phase of AI adoption will only be sustained with deliberate leadership action," said Rami Mourtada, Partner and Director at BCG. "In the GCC, where adoption has notably accelerated, it’s imperative to build the proper core operating models and governance structures to transform individual productivity gains from AI into organisation-wide benefits. "

Training remains a gap

Training remains an issue globally despite the rapid shift in the skills workers are expected to have.

Only 36% of respondents said they had received sufficient preparation, although 72% of regular AI users acknowledged that skill expectations had changed significantly.

Communication from management also remains limited, with 33% of frontline employees globally saying leadership communicates clearly about AI and 28% reporting strong alignment between what leaders say about the technology and what organisations do in practice.