yStats.com Report: AI in the Middle East 2025 – Adoption Rising, Risks Mounting, Readiness Gaps Persist
Hamburg-based secondary market research firm yStats.com has published AI in the Middle East 2025: Adoption, Readiness, and Risk Landscape. The report provides objective, data-driven insights into how Artificial Intelligence (AI), with a particular focus on Generative AI (GenAI), is advancing across the region. It examines adoption levels, organizational readiness, and associated risks, offering guidance for credit card companies, payment providers, financial institutions, and corporate clients.
Adoption accelerating, but few reach scale
By late 2024, nearly 60% of Middle Eastern organizations reported fast or very fast AI adoption, compared to just 15% moving cautiously. Yet scaling remains limited: only 14–28% of firms have implemented AI across business functions, while the majority are still in partial deployment. Skills shortages, uneven cloud infrastructure, and unclear governance frameworks remain persistent obstacles.
Financial services lead, but cybersecurity and compliance dominate risks
The report highlights strong enterprise AI uptake in the GCC. In 2024, close to nine in ten CEOs reported using GenAI, a share that exceeded the global averages, underscoring the region’s leadership in adoption. At the same time, over 60% of GCC firms cite cybersecurity threats, and over 50% highlight regulatory compliance as their top AI-related risks. Payment providers and banks are deploying AI to strengthen fraud detection, risk analytics, and customer engagement, but many projects are slowed by cost overruns and talent constraints.
“AI adoption is advancing across the Middle East, with financial services among the leading sectors,” said Yücel Yelken, Founder and CEO of yStats.com. “At the same time, organizations face clear readiness gaps in skills, infrastructure, and governance that will shape the pace of implementation.”
National strategies fuel rapid investment growth
Governments in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar continue to push large-scale national AI agendas, supported by sovereign wealth funds and regulatory frameworks. In Qatar, the AI market is forecast to expand from over EUR 380 million in 2024 to nearly EUR 1.8 billion by 2030, reflecting close to a 30% annual growth rate. Across the GCC, enterprises expect more than USD 23 billion in annual GenAI-driven gains, equal to around 2% of regional GDP.
Access the Full Report
For detailed insights into AI adoption, organizational readiness, and risk dynamics across the Middle East, access the latest yStats.com publication: AI in the Middle East 2025: Adoption, Readiness, and Risk Landscape. Contact press@ystats.com for more details.
