Nowhere is the personal impact of artificial intelligence more significant among chief executives than the UAE, a report has found.
Dataiku, a data science and AI platform company, commissioned Harris Poll to survey 900 chief executives in the US, UK, France, Germany, UAE, Japan, South Korea and Singapore on how they felt about AI and the pressures to implement it within their respective companies.
The results, detailed in the Global AI Confessions report, indicate that chief executives in the UAE worry about the potential ramifications if they do not successfully use AI within their businesses.
"Twenty-three per cent of UAE CEOs say AI is jeopardising their long-term legacy, more than double the 10 per cent global average and among the highest of any region," the report said.
Kurt Muehmel, head of AI Strategy at Dataiku, said many chief executives feel pressure to show that AI is increasing efficiency, improving productivity and worth the investment.
"There are high expectations from corporate boards and there's this feeling that you can't be the one CEO that's concerned about how it's going," Mr Muehmel said. The survey was designed to go beyond superficial statements and feelings about AI, he added.
"Hearing that there's some worry about the [success] of AI, that was really refreshing."
Mr Muehmel said survey results from the UAE showed a control gap between what chief executives feel they are responsible for in terms of implementing AI against what they can control.
The poll found about one in five UAE chief executives said their company's chief data officers have "the greatest influence on AI strategy – more than three times the 6 per cent global average and the highest share of any market surveyed".
Mr Muehmel said the UAE's focus on AI throughout the past decade probably affected the pressure felt. "They're operating in a context where AI is at the top of the policy and economic agenda," he said.
The UAE has worked to integrate AI across many parts of life. The country recently secured the top ranking for AI adoption in Microsoft's annual AI economy report.
That AI adoption has translated into vast interest and investment in the UAE from various US-based technology companies.
Dataiku commissioned a similar survey last year and pointed out the evolution in thinking for the most recent analysis.
"In 2025, CEOs feared falling behind in AI," the company's summary read. "In 2026, they fear something far more dangerous: being held accountable for it."
Mr Muehmel said AI is not merely about innovation and lofty hopes, it's a performance mandate.
"It's not all powerful men and women in very nicely pressed suits," he said, referring to the executives deciding how to implement AI. "It's people who have real concerns about what it means for them."
In the UAE, Dataiku said the results from its survey show that AI ambitions are not going to plateau anytime soon, but with that comes a slight twist.
"While ambition remains high, confidence in the upside is less certain and awareness of downside risk is significantly more pronounced," Dataiku's report said.
