UAE tops global rankings in AI adoption in the workplace: Microsoft report

Dubai: The UAE has claimed the top global ranking for artificial intelligence adoption in the workplace, achieving the highest rate of AI utilisation among the working population in 2025, surpassing some of the world’s most advanced digital economies, according to a new report from Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab.

The report, which surveyed AI diffusion across more than 30 countries, found that 59.4 per cent of the UAE’s working-age population uses AI tools daily, such as Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, and Midjourney, the highest proportion worldwide. Singapore ranked second with 58.6 per cent, followed by Norway and Ireland.

Microsoft’s findings place the UAE in the elite category of global “Leaders of Adoption,” a designation reserved for nations that not only deploy artificial intelligence at scale but also shape its development, regulation, and application across the economy and society. 

The group includes only a handful of countries, among them Singapore and Norway, recognised for building comprehensive ecosystems to support AI advancement, covering legislative frameworks, skilled talent, and advanced technological platforms.

According to Microsoft, the UAE’s ascent to the top spot reflects a decade-long national effort guided by the UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031, which laid the groundwork for integrating AI into public services, business operations, and education.

Key drivers of this achievement include:

The report also notes that the UAE has become one of the fastest-evolving markets globally for AI integration, particularly across government services, finance, energy, transportation, healthcare, and education, sectors that have seen significant efficiency gains through AI adoption.

While the UAE’s achievement demonstrates its rapid digital transformation, Microsoft’s data reveals a striking regional imbalance. 

Within the Middle East, AI adoption rates remain lower elsewhere: Qatar (35.7 per cent), Saudi Arabia (23.7 per cent), Kuwait (17.7 per cent), and Egypt (12.5 per cent). 

In South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, adoption rates fall below 10 per cent, hindered by limited connectivity, computing resources, and linguistic diversity.

Language barriers also play a major role, the report suggests, as countries dominated by low-resource languages lag in AI diffusion. 

Nearly four billion people globally still lack access to the infrastructure, from broadband to reliable electricity, necessary to use AI tools effectively.

To support regional progress, Microsoft has expanded its AI for Good Lab to Abu Dhabi, marking the company’s first such facility in the Middle East. 

The lab will collaborate with nonprofits and research partners on issues such as sustainability, public health, and disaster response. 

The move builds on Microsoft’s existing partnerships with the UAE government and Abu Dhabi-based G42 to accelerate cloud and AI infrastructure across the Emirates.

The Microsoft report situates the UAE at the forefront of a historic global transformation. More than 1.2 billion people worldwide are now using AI, making it the fastest-adopted technology in human history. Yet few nations have embedded it as deeply into their economies as the UAE, where AI has become both a tool of efficiency and a cornerstone of future growth.

With an AI market valued at USD 3.47 billion in 2023 and projected to grow at an annual rate of 43.9 per cent through 2030, the Emirates’ model shows how strategic vision, infrastructure investment, and human capital development can turn technology into a national advantage.