UAE, Saudi enterprises invest big on AI - where do they stand on 'AI maturity'?

Dubai: UAE and Saudi enterprises keep investing big on AI – but when it comes to actually using those AI capabilities, there is still lots of work to be done.

This is why ‘AI maturity’ – which is essentially how well organisations are deploying AI features – lags in the Middle East and even in Europe.

“Many are still in the early stages of their journey,” said Cathy Mauzaize, President, EMEA at ServiceNow.

“To keep moving forward, organisations are exploring how to lay the right foundations to make the data work for them, and give their people the skills to use AI with confidence.”

According to IDC forecasts, spending on AI in Europe alone will touch $144.6 billion in 2028. “The opportunity is huge, but only if we focus on getting the basics right today,” said Cathy.

The major-league enterprises in the UAE have sustained their levels of funding to be AI-enabled in their operations by the earliest possible timelines. Between investments and actually seeing benefits emerge from it is where AI maturity comes in.

ServiceNow brought out a report drawing on feedback from nearly 4,500 respondents, including 1,950 across nine markets in Europe and the Middle East including the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The findings show that technologies such as agentic AI are ‘fuelling experimentation and delivering early returns across the region’.

“However, the pace of change is moving faster than organisations’ ability to scale AI in a structured, governed way,” the report adds. “To this end, the region’s average AI maturity score has dropped 10 points year on year, from 44 to just 34 out of 100.”