The UAE continues to lead the world in AI adoption, according to the latest report from Microsoft’s AI Economy Institute.
Microsoft measures AI diffusion as the share of people aged 15 to 64 who have used a generative AI product or app during the reporting period. Adoption in the UAE continues to rise rapidly, from 59.4 per cent in the first half of 2025 to 64 per cent in the second half of 2025 and 70.1 per cent in early 2026.
That puts the UAE at more than four times the global average of 17.8 per cent. Globally, adoption rose from 16.3 per cent to 17.8 per cent during the first quarter of 2026. Singapore remains in second place, with AI adoption rising 5.7 percentage points since the first half of 2025. But AI adoption in the UAE has grown more than twice as fast, jumping 13.9 percentage points over the same period to reach 73.3 per cent.
Much of the UAE's lead comes amid a concerted push to move AI beyond experimentation and into everyday use across government, workplaces and schools. Experts in AI policy have told The National that early adoption has put the UAE at the front of the digital race.
The country has set a target to deliver half of federal government services using AI agents within two years, alongside plans to train 80,000 federal employees, from ministers and senior executives to new joiners, in agentic AI.
In Abu Dhabi, 35,000 government employees have already been given access to Microsoft Copilot, while the wider strategy is increasingly focused on embedding AI into the tools employees use every day.
And that push is also starting much earlier. AI is now being taught in UAE government schools from kindergarten to grade 12, covering areas including data, algorithms, applications, risks and ethics. The government has since approved an AI curriculum across public and private schools and plans to train 22,000 teachers and educators to use AI in teaching, assessment and lesson planning.
