GCC AI adoption outpaces value creation despite infrastructure spending

The regional states have scaled organisational Al adoption yet only 11 per cent generate earnings from implementations, exposing critical gaps in talent, governance, and workflow transformation, says a study

- BY ABDULAZIZ KHATTAK

THE Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries stand at a critical juncture where decades of hydrocarbon wealth meet the computational demands of artificial intelligence.

The region's trajectory from oil producer to Al infrastructure hub represents one of the most ambitious economic pivots in recent history, with energy sector giants leading the charge.

Recent survey data shows 84 per cent of GCC organisations have adopted Al in at least one business function, up from 62 per cent in 2023.

Yet this headline figure masks profound disparities in implementation maturity and value realisation across the six-nation bloc.

According to a report by McKinsey, only 31 per cent of respondents indicated their organisations had scaled Al deployment across operations, whilst a mere 11 per cent qualified as value realisers generating at least 5 per cent of earnings from Al initiatives.

ENERGY SECTOR LEADS REGIONAL AI IMPLEMENTATION

The energy sector exemplifies both the promise and challenges of GCC Al adoption.

Saudi Aramco deployed decades of operational data to construct a generative Al model with 250 billion parameters, analysing drilling plans, geological data, historical drilling time, and costs.

This application demonstrates how hydrocarbon majors leverage proprietary datasets accumulated over generations of extraction operations.

Amin Nasser, Aramco CEO, has stated that the Kingdom would capitalise on abundant cheap natural gas and renewables to transform Saudi Arabia into a global leader in Al.