The UAE is among the top nations globally in AI adoption and attracting talent as it institutes policies including mandating AI education and boosting investments in the sector, according to a Stanford University report.
AI adoption is spreading at historic rates across the world as consumers derive substantial value from tools they often access for free. The pace of adoption, however, varies by country and correlates strongly with gross domestic product per capita, Stanford, one of the top universities in the world, said in its Artificial Intelligence Index Report.
Most high-income economies cluster fall between 25 per cent and 45 per cent adoption bracket, with European and North American averages reaching approximately 27 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively.
“However, there are exceptions to the relationship between GDP and AI adoption. The UAE and Singapore report adoption levels above 54 per cent and 61 per cent, respectively, well above what their GDP per capita would predict,” the report said.
“Some wealthy economies, such as the United States and Denmark, fall below the trend.”
Globally, AI has reached mass adoption “faster than the personal computer or the internet [as] generative AI hit nearly 53 per cent population-level adoption within three years,” co-chairpersons Yolanda Gil and Raymond Perrault wrote in the ninth edition of their AI Index Report.
AI companies have reached “meaningful revenue scale” in a fraction of the time it took previous technology generations, and global corporate investment more than doubled in 2025. Organisational adoption rose to 88 per cent, and early estimates suggest the consumer value of generative AI has grown substantially within a year, they added.
Workplace AI usage is also higher in several emerging economies than in many advanced ones, with 58 per cent of employees globally reporting using AI at work on a semi-regular or regular basis.
“But in India, China, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, the share exceeded 80 per cent,” the report said.
Over the past decade, the UAE has sought to become an AI leader as it continues to diversify its economy away from hydrocarbons.
The UAE was the first country in the world to introduce a national AI strategy in 2017, taking the lead along with nations including Singapore, to integrate AI into public services before the AI adoption really took off across the globe.
The country’s affinity for research into the AI sector has resulted in the establishment of start-ups, partnerships and investments from industry leaders including Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI.
The UAE has also teamed up with the US to develop an AI campus, which will include 5GW of capacity for AI data centres, in Abu Dhabi.
Last year, a survey conducted by consulting firm KPMG found that UAE optimism on AI was significantly ahead of the global average.
Another study focusing on AI adoption, conducted by Counterpoint Research, ranked Dubai in the top five, ahead of San Francisco, when it comes to AI adoption.
Investment boom
In terms of global private investments between 2013 and 2025 – excluding the government-banked funding for AI mega projects and companies – the UAE ranked 15th globally with $4 billion poured into the sector. The nations ranked above the Emirates – Switzerland, Australia and Japan – invested $4.73 billion, $6.5 billion and $7 billion, respectively.
The US was an outlier, with more than $757 billion aggregate investments in AI during that period, with China's spending topping $131 billion.
“The trends in geographic concentration are visible over a longer time horizon,” the report noted. “Over the same period, the number of newly funded US companies far exceeds other geographic areas, including five times that of China and 8.4 times the amount in the UK,” Stanford researchers said.
“The United States’ growth rate continues to accelerate, with a 77.8 per cent year-over-year increase in the number of funded AI start-ups,” they added.
Mandatory education
Globally, formal education is lagging behind AI, but people across the world are learning AI skills at every stage of their lives.
More than 80 per cent of US high school and college students now use AI for school-related tasks, but only half of middle and high schools have AI policies in place, and just 6 per cent of teachers say those policies are clear, the report said.
“However, outside the classroom, AI engineering skills are accelerating fastest in the United Arab Emirates, Chile, and South Africa,” the report added.
More than 90 per cent of countries across the globe are now offering computer science to primary or secondary students, but AI education has been slower to take hold.
But China and the UAE have both mandated AI education, signalling a shift towards formal AI instruction at the national level.
The two countries have made “significant strides in implementing AI education”, with policies in China requiring a minimum number of instructional hours and curriculum that progresses through grade levels.
“The UAE similarly mandated AI education for all grade levels starting in the 2025–26 school year,” The report said.
“Students will also progress through a grade-level curriculum that includes skills in foundational concepts, data and algorithms, software use, innovation and project design, and ethical awareness.”
Job dynamics and talent magnet
The labour market dynamics are also changing, with AI labour demand across geographies continuing to increase in 2025. Job listings that require AI skills continue to make up a growing share of overall postings, and while most countries are hitting new peaks of demand, the intensity varies across countries, according to the report.
In 2025, Singapore led with 4.69 per cent of all job postings that required AI skills, followed by Hong Kong (3.5 per cent), Luxembourg (3.4 per cent), Spain (3.3 per cent), Canada (3 per cent), Poland (2.92 per cent) and the UAE (2.87 per cent).
The UAE ranked above the US, which reached 2.6 per cent and the UK at 1.9 per cent, last year.
When asked whether AI is generally more likely to create new jobs or eliminate existing ones, views last year remained divided.
More than 60 per cent of respondents in Nigeria, Japan, Mexico, the UAE, South Korea, and India said they expect AI to create more jobs than it eliminates.
“The US and Canada sat at the opposite end, where 67 per cent and 68 per cent of respondents expected AI to eliminate jobs and disrupt industries,” the report added.
