Like a friend who shares the news over tea — no jargon, no fluff, just what matters across the Gulf.
ISSUE 07, 06 July 2026
Ai MAJLiS
- UAE
- SAUDI ARABIA
- QATAR
- KUWAIT
- BAHRAIN
- OMAN
Ahlan wa sahlan — welcome to Issue #007 of Ai MAJLiS. The data this week is striking. The UAE labour market is being reshaped by AI in real time — 13 million transactions completed by AI without a single human touch at MOHRE alone. PwC’s 2026 AI Jobs Barometer lands with a powerful finding: AI jobs in the UAE are growing faster than the US, UK, Germany, and France. Saudi Arabia just earned a World Bank endorsement for its AI-in-learning sandbox — a genuine global model, not just regional bragging rights. And a landmark Arab-region report puts real numbers on what AI means for workers: 93% of Saudis now use generative AI daily, women face greater automation risk than men, and the difference between prosperity and displacement hinges on choices made in the next 24 months. The Global AI Show just wrapped in Riyadh with 15,000 registrations. The Gulf’s AI decade is not coming. It’s here.
01
UAE - AI Jobs · Labour Market
The UAE Is Now One of the World's Fastest-Growing AI Talent Markets — Faster Than the US, UK, and Germany
PwC’s 2026 AI Jobs Barometer, published this week after analysing more than one billion job postings across 27 countries, delivers a striking finding for the Gulf: the UAE ranks among the fastest-growing AI talent markets globally — outpacing the US, UK, Germany, and France on the pace of AI hiring growth.
The numbers are concrete. UAE job postings requiring AI skills grew by around 2,700 from 2024 to 2025 alone. The most AI-exposed occupations account for the largest share of job postings across the economy. Technology, media and telecoms lead AI hiring intensity, with energy and professional services accounting for the largest overall share of AI-linked hiring.
The report’s most important finding is structural: AI is splitting the UAE labour market into two tracks. Jobs that AI professionalises — where AI handles basic tasks and leaves more expert work for people — account for 22% of advertised roles and are thriving, with 42% higher wage growth since 2021. Jobs that AI democratises — where AI takes on complex tasks — account for 52% of roles and are falling behind on both wages and growth.
62%
Average AI skills wage premium globally
8x
Faster growth in AI-skills jobs vs overall market
163%
Labour productivity growth at top AI-exposed firms
Entry-level roles in the UAE are being fundamentally redesigned: junior positions in the most AI-exposed categories are seven times more likely than least-exposed junior roles to demand traditionally senior skills such as leadership and strategic thinking.
Meanwhile, the UAE’s Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) confirmed this week that it has completed approximately 13 million transactions using automation and AI without human intervention in 2026 alone — covering a wide range of labour market services. AI also reduced call review time at MOHRE contact centres from 10 minutes to just two minutes, saving over 1,000 working hours.
"The UAE Government seeks to be the world's first in harnessing artificial intelligence across its vital sectors and in creating a promising new market in the region with high economic value."
— Shaima Al Awadi, Acting Undersecretary, UAE Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, 2026
Why it matters: For employers hiring in the UAE, understanding which track each role sits on is now strategic — not optional. Roles being professionalised by AI require entirely different hiring criteria than they did 24 months ago. For employees, the single most protective investment is demonstrating AI fluency in their specific domain. The skills gap between AI-exposed and non-AI-exposed workers is widening by 75% per year.
02
SAUDI ARABIA - AI in Education · Global Recognition
The World Bank Just Called Saudi Arabia's AI Learning Sandbox a Global Model — and 15,000 People Came to Its AI Show
Two significant Saudi AI stories landed this week, both pointing in the same direction: the Kingdom is earning external validation for its AI programmes, not just making internal announcements.
First: on July 2, 2026, the World Bank published a dedicated study documenting Saudi Arabia’s AI Sandbox for Digital Learning (AISB) — led by the National eLearning Centre (NeLC) — as “a pioneering national model for countries seeking to advance responsible innovation and improve the quality of digital learning.” The study highlights that AISB actively enables institutions and innovators to develop and test AI solutions in real-world, secure learning environments, directly aligned with Vision 2030 objectives. The World Bank concluded that the Saudi experience has “laid a solid foundation to build upon, positioning Saudi Arabia to serve as a regional and international reference point for responsible, evidence-informed innovation.”
Second: the Global AI Show Riyadh 2026 wrapped this week with numbers that reflect genuine demand — more than 15,000 registrations, 6,723 attendees, over 100 speakers, more than 100 exhibitors, and delegates from over 80 countries. Held alongside the Global Blockchain Show and Global Games Show Riyadh, the event reflected a broader shift: Saudi Arabia is integrating AI into its wider Vision 2030 strategy across government services, healthcare, finance, gaming, entertainment, and digital infrastructure — not treating it as a standalone technology category.
15,000
Registrations at Global AI Show Riyadh 2026
93%
Saudi respondents actively using generative AI
$135B
Saudi AI contribution to GDP projected by 2030
- Opportunity Spotlight
The World Bank endorsement of Saudi Arabia’s AI learning sandbox is more than a commendation — it is an invitation. Countries across the developing world that the World Bank supports are now likely to look to Saudi Arabia as a model for AI-in-education implementation. This creates a genuine export opportunity for Saudi edtech and AI learning companies. The Global AI Show’s Abu Dhabi edition is scheduled for November 12–13, 2026.
Why it matters: Saudi Arabia’s AI credibility is being built on two fronts simultaneously: top-down, with multi-billion dollar infrastructure and HUMAIN; and bottom-up, with skills programmes that are now receiving global academic validation. For international businesses assessing Saudi market entry, this dual-track approach significantly de-risks the Kingdom as a long-term AI partnership destination.
03
ARAB REGION - Future of Work · Data
The Real Numbers on AI and Arab Workers: $320 Billion Opportunity, 92 Million Jobs at Risk — and Women Carry the Heaviest Burden
Three major reports landed this week with the most granular data yet on what AI means for workers specifically across the Arab region and the GCC — and the picture is simultaneously promising and deeply unequal.
The headline opportunity: AI is projected to contribute approximately $320 billion to regional economies by 2030. Saudi Arabia is expected to gain around $135 billion; the UAE could generate approximately $96 billion from AI-driven growth. Across the GCC, AI adoption may add between $21 billion and $35 billion annually to non-oil GDP.
The headline risk: Globally, AI could affect approximately 22% of current jobs between 2025 and 2030 — creating more than 170 million new jobs worldwide while displacing around 92 million existing roles. In the Arab region, the ILO estimates nearly 14.6% of jobs (almost 8 million) could benefit from AI-driven augmentation, while around 2.2% of jobs (1.2 million) are potentially at risk of automation by generative AI.
$320B
AI contribution to Arab economies by 2030
8M
Arab jobs potentially augmented by AI
3x
Women's automation risk vs men in Arab region
The gender gap: Women hold more than three times the share of jobs at risk of automation due to generative AI (5.3%) compared to men (1.6%), reflecting women’s concentration in routine clerical roles. Yet they also stand to benefit the most from augmentation — 22.7% of female-held jobs are potentially enhanced by generative AI technologies compared to 13% of male-held jobs. Unless policies are deliberately designed to address gender inequalities, women are projected to face fewer job opportunities by 2035.
The consumer-level picture: A separate national survey in Saudi Arabia found that 93% of respondents actively use generative AI, mainly for text-based tasks — one of the highest rates recorded anywhere in the world.
The Qatar Tribune’s summary of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies report is the sharpest framing: AI should be understood as “a structural economic force rather than a standalone technological tool” — the coming decade will involve not just technological upgrading, but “a full-scale reconfiguration of how economies generate value and distribute labour.”
04
UAE - Agentic AI · Events
The UAE's AI Labour Platform Goes Agentic — and GITEX December Shapes Up as the World's Largest AI Event
The UAE’s Ministry of Human Resources launched a dedicated Agentic AI and Robotics project this year to boost labour market productivity — with early results already visible. Private sector employment in the UAE rose by 12.4% and compliance levels increased by 34% as of March 2026, partly attributed to AI-driven monitoring and enforcement improvements.
The project sits at the intersection of three national strategies: the Dubai Economic Agenda (D33), the UAE Digital Transformation Strategy 2031, and the broader Agentic AI Operations Framework that targets integrating AI across 50% of government operations by 2028. Major technology companies globally are collectively committing over $600 billion in capital expenditure in 2026 to build AI infrastructure — and a significant share of that is flowing into UAE-based projects.
Looking ahead, the UAE is also preparing for its biggest annual AI showcase. GITEX Tech-cation 2026 — December 7–11 at Dubai Expo City — has been directed by Dubai’s ruler to become the world’s largest event dedicated to technology and AI, covering robotics, advanced computing, smart cities, and agentic AI. With the Global AI Show Abu Dhabi edition also scheduled for November 12–13, the UAE’s second half of 2026 is shaping up as the Gulf’s most intense AI events calendar yet.
- Event Calendar — Gulf AI H2 2026
→ ROBOTECH 26 — Oct 27–29, Doha (AI & Robotics, Qatar Chamber)
→ Global AI Show Abu Dhabi — Nov 12–13, Abu Dhabi
→ GITEX Tech-cation 2026 — Dec 7–11, Dubai Expo City
→ Global AI Summit (GAIN) — Sep 2026, Riyadh (4th edition)
Why it matters: For international companies planning their GCC market access strategy for H2 2026, this events calendar is a sequenced opportunity — Doha in October, Abu Dhabi in November, Dubai in December, each reaching a distinct audience. Early positioning at ROBOTECH 26 in Qatar, followed by the Global AI Show Abu Dhabi and GITEX, offers a three-stop Gulf entry that covers all major markets in a single quarter.
05
QATAR / BAHRAIN / OMAN / KUWAIT - AI Practitioners — Weekly Check-In
Qatar's $600B AI Entity, Bahrain's Governance Edge, Oman's Hardware Bet, Kuwait's Readiness Gap
As the UAE and Saudi Arabia dominate the AI headlines, it’s worth pausing on what the GCC’s other four markets are doing — and why each represents a distinct commercial opportunity this week.
Qatar continues to deepen its positioning through Qai — the QIA-backed sovereign AI entity — which is expanding its mandate across fintech, healthcare, and smart infrastructure. Qatar Development Bank’s sector report this week reinforced the commercial case: the GCC AI market is projected to grow from QR12.4bn in 2024 to QR56.3bn by 2030, a CAGR of 28.6%. Qatar, with an Oxford Insights AI readiness score of 63.59, sits third in the GCC — meaningfully ahead of Oman (58.94), Bahrain (56.13), and Kuwait (49.86). ROBOTECH 26 — October 27–29, Doha — is fast becoming the most anticipated AI and robotics event in the Northern Gulf.
Bahrain made headlines this week through a different lens: a new Arab region report specifically identifies Bahrain as one of the Gulf economies where skills gaps in STEM education and shortages of AI specialists remain structural vulnerabilities — even as its Central Bank sandbox continues to attract fintech and AI financial products from across the region. Bahrain’s standalone AI law remains in progress through the Shura Council — and when passed, it will be the GCC’s most binding AI governance framework.
Oman is executing steadily on its contrarian semiconductor strategy. The ILO’s Arab labour report specifically covers Oman in its analysis of digital readiness and AI workforce exposure — noting that Oman’s progress since 2022 has been notable “particularly given the GDP gap” between it and larger Gulf economies. Oman’s undersecretary confirmed this week that AI pilots in health, education, justice, and procurement have all moved into real-world implementation.
Kuwait continues to carry the GCC’s lowest Oxford Insights AI readiness score at 49.86 — a gap that analysts say is most acutely felt in compute infrastructure, where Kuwait’s five data centers compare poorly with the UAE’s 57 and Saudi Arabia’s 51. The Middle East Institute’s latest analysis reiterates its most pointed recommendation: if Kuwait launches a national AI infrastructure company — similar to G42, HUMAIN, or Qai — it could meaningfully accelerate its trajectory.
GCC AI SNAPSHOT
Where Each Country Stands This Week
Eight editions in, and the Ai MAJLiS thesis keeps strengthening. This week’s US-UAE chip deal is not an incremental update — it is a structural shift. The hardware bottleneck that constrained the UAE’s AI ambitions has been formally removed. G42, Core42, and every major US tech company operating in the UAE can now move at full speed.
IBM’s data tells us the productivity gains are already real — 77% of UAE leaders report significant improvements, well above the EMEA average. Qatar’s quantum partnership is the most forward-looking Gulf AI story of the month. And Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman are each finding their own path through a landscape that rewards those who play to their strengths.
That’s our majlis for this week. Share it with someone building in the Gulf — and we’ll see you next Sunday, inshallah. 🫖
