Key UAE AI adoption statistics for 2026
- 73.3% of the UAE's working-age population used generative AI in Q2 2026, the highest share of any economy Microsoft tracks. (Microsoft AI Diffusion Report, Sep 2026 (estimate))
- Worldwide, 18.8% of the working-age population used AI in June 2026. (Microsoft AI Diffusion Report, Sep 2026 (estimate))
- 85% of UAE adults used generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude in the past year, the highest of 21 countries surveyed (average 62%). (Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned))
- Qatar is the next-highest Gulf country at 43.5% of its working-age population using AI in Q2 2026 (10th worldwide). (Microsoft AI Diffusion Report, Sep 2026 (estimate))
- ChatGPT accounted for 80.99% of AI chatbot referral traffic in the UAE in September 2026. (Statcounter, Sep 2026)
- Google Gemini was second with 13.25% of AI chatbot referrals in the UAE in September 2026. (Statcounter, Sep 2026)
- Google had 93.47% of search engine referrals in the UAE in September 2026, with Bing on 3.96%. (Statcounter, Sep 2026)
- 92% of UAE employees say they intentionally use AI at work. (University of Melbourne and KPMG, 2025 (commissioned))
- 72% of UAE employees have relied on AI output at work without checking its accuracy. (University of Melbourne and KPMG, 2025 (commissioned))
- 35% of UAE adults trust AI tools "a great deal" to give accurate information, against 16% across 21 countries. (Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned))
- The UAE Government's framework mandates agentic AI in 50% of government sectors, services and operations by 2028. (UAE Government, Sep 2026)
- Stargate UAE is a 1GW AI compute cluster in Abu Dhabi, with the first 200MW expected to go live in 2026. (OpenAI, May 2025)
How to cite this page. Use any figure here, credit the original source shown next to it, and link to this page: "UAE AI Adoption Statistics 2026: ChatGPT, Gemini & AI Search, Adjoltz, updated 15 October 2026, https://adjoltz.com/blog/uae-ai-adoption-statistics/".
How many people in the UAE use AI?
73.3% of the UAE's working-age population used generative AI in Q2 2026, the highest share of any economy Microsoft tracks. (Microsoft AI Diffusion Report, Sep 2026 (estimate))
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| In Q1 2026, 70.1% of the UAE's working-age population used AI, keeping the UAE first on Microsoft's National AI Leaderboard. | Microsoft AI Diffusion Report, May 2026 (estimate) |
| At the end of 2025, 64.0% of the UAE's working-age population was using AI, up from 59.4% earlier in the year. | Microsoft AI Diffusion Report, Jan 2026 (estimate) |
| 85% of UAE adults used generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude in the past year, the highest of 21 countries surveyed (average 62%). | Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned) |
| 84% of UAE adults say they used an AI tool or app in the last 12 months, against a 66% average across 21 countries. | Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned) |
| 36% of UAE adults say they already use AI "a lot" in their work or life, against 21% across 21 countries. | Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned) |
| 97% of UAE respondents use AI for work, study or personal purposes. | KPMG, Oct 2025 (commissioned) |
Microsoft's figures are modelled from its own usage data for people aged 15 to 64; they are not survey results.
How does UAE AI use compare with other countries?
Worldwide, 18.8% of the working-age population used AI in June 2026. (Microsoft AI Diffusion Report, Sep 2026 (estimate))
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| Qatar is the next-highest Gulf country at 43.5% of its working-age population using AI in Q2 2026 (10th worldwide). | Microsoft AI Diffusion Report, Sep 2026 (estimate) |
| In Saudi Arabia, 31.4% of the working-age population used AI in Q2 2026, ranking 25th after the biggest rise in rank of the quarter. | Microsoft AI Diffusion Report, Sep 2026 (estimate) |
| In Oman, 27.6% of the working-age population used AI in Q2 2026. | Microsoft AI Diffusion Report, Sep 2026 (estimate) |
| In Kuwait, 22.6% of the working-age population used AI in Q2 2026. | Microsoft AI Diffusion Report, Sep 2026 (estimate) |
| In the United States, 33.0% of the working-age population used AI in Q2 2026, ranking 21st. | Microsoft AI Diffusion Report, Sep 2026 (estimate) |
| Among the countries with the biggest gains in H2 2025, the UAE and South Korea stood out, each adding more than four percentage points of AI users. | Microsoft AI Diffusion Report, Jan 2026 (estimate) |
| The UAE uses Claude at 2.84 times the rate its working-age population would predict (Anthropic AI Usage Index, May 2026). | Anthropic, Jun 2026 |
| Users in the UAE generated 0.61% of all Claude.ai usage worldwide in May 2026. | Anthropic, Jun 2026 |
What do people in the UAE use AI for?
83% of UAE adults have used AI to help with their work in the past year (21-country average 70%). (Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned))
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| 70% of UAE adults have used AI to help with learning or schoolwork (average 55%). | Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned) |
| 74% of UAE adults have used AI to generate media such as videos, images or audio summaries (average 59%). | Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned) |
| Half of UAE adults (50%) have used AI for companionship or support, including mental health support, against 35% across 21 countries. | Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned) |
| 67% of UAE adults have used AI to explore starting a business, making more money or changing careers, against 42% on average. | Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned) |
| 54.63% of Claude conversations from the UAE are work-related, against 43.36% worldwide. | Anthropic, Jun 2026 |
Which AI chatbots do people in the UAE use?
ChatGPT accounted for 80.99% of AI chatbot referral traffic in the UAE in September 2026. (Statcounter, Sep 2026)
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| Google Gemini was second with 13.25% of AI chatbot referrals in the UAE in September 2026. | Statcounter, Sep 2026 |
| Microsoft Copilot (2.26%) and Perplexity (2.25%) each sent just over 2% of AI chatbot referrals in the UAE in September 2026. | Statcounter, Sep 2026 |
| Claude had 1.23% of AI chatbot referrals in the UAE in September 2026, and DeepSeek 0.02%. | Statcounter, Sep 2026 |
| A year earlier, in October 2025, ChatGPT had 86.34% of UAE AI chatbot referrals and Gemini just 2.42%. | Statcounter, Oct 2025 |
| Worldwide, ChatGPT's share of AI chatbot referrals was 80.48% in September 2026, almost the same as in the UAE. | Statcounter, Sep 2026 |
| Under the Stargate deal, OpenAI said the UAE would become the first country in the world to enable ChatGPT nationwide. | OpenAI, May 2025 |
Statcounter measures clicks from chatbots to websites, not the number of users. OpenAI has not published a UAE user count.
Is AI changing how people in the UAE search?
Google had 93.47% of search engine referrals in the UAE in September 2026, with Bing on 3.96%. (Statcounter, Sep 2026)
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| Google still sent 99.57% of combined Google and ChatGPT referral traffic in the UAE in September 2026, against 0.43% for ChatGPT. | Statcounter, Sep 2026 |
| 37% of UAE adults are "extremely excited" about AI being used for web search, against 20% across 21 countries. | Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned) |
| 49% of UAE adults say AI is having a major positive impact on the way we access information (average 37%). | Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned) |
| Google launched AI Mode in Search in Arabic on 8 October 2025, one of 36 new languages added that day. | Google, Oct 2025 |
| AI Mode first launched in English across the Middle East and North Africa in August 2025, before the Arabic version. | Google, Oct 2025 |
| Globally, Google says AI Mode passed one billion monthly users within a year of launch. | Google, May 2026 |
How is AI changing work in the UAE?
92% of UAE employees say they intentionally use AI at work. (University of Melbourne and KPMG, 2025 (commissioned))
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| 45% of UAE adults think AI will change most jobs and industries within five years (average 37%). | Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned) |
| 63% of UAE adults think AI in the workplace will create new jobs and help workers, while the 21-country public is split 50/50. | Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned) |
| 66% of UAE respondents say their organisation has a policy on generative AI use. | KPMG, Oct 2025 (commissioned) |
| 54% of UAE employees feel they could not complete their work without the help of AI. | University of Melbourne and KPMG, 2025 (commissioned) |
| 58% of UAE employees worry about being left behind if they do not use AI at work. | University of Melbourne and KPMG, 2025 (commissioned) |
| 55% of UAE employees say key aspects of their work can be performed by AI. | University of Melbourne and KPMG, 2025 (commissioned) |
Do people in the UAE trust AI?
35% of UAE adults trust AI tools "a great deal" to give accurate information, against 16% across 21 countries. (Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned))
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| Asked how they feel about AI, 25% of UAE adults choose "excited about the possibilities" (average 16%) and 7% choose "concerned about the risks" (average 18%). | Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned) |
| 65% of UAE respondents would be willing to rely on information provided by an AI system. | KPMG, Oct 2025 (commissioned) |
| 53% of UAE respondents believe the benefits of AI outweigh the risks. | KPMG, Oct 2025 (commissioned) |
| 86% of UAE respondents accept or approve of AI. | University of Melbourne and KPMG, 2025 (commissioned) |
| 84% of UAE respondents would be more willing to trust AI systems if assured they are used in a trustworthy way. | KPMG, Oct 2025 (commissioned) |
What are the risks of AI use at work in the UAE?
72% of UAE employees have relied on AI output at work without checking its accuracy. (University of Melbourne and KPMG, 2025 (commissioned))
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| 57% of UAE employees admit using AI at work in inappropriate ways. | University of Melbourne and KPMG, 2025 (commissioned) |
| 67% of UAE employees have presented AI-generated content as their own. | University of Melbourne and KPMG, 2025 (commissioned) |
| 64% of UAE employees have made mistakes in their work because of AI. | University of Melbourne and KPMG, 2025 (commissioned) |
| 75% of UAE respondents are concerned about negative outcomes from AI. | University of Melbourne and KPMG, 2025 (commissioned) |
| The top AI risk UAE respondents report experiencing is the loss of human interaction and connection, cited by 59%. | University of Melbourne and KPMG, 2025 (commissioned) |
| 73% of UAE respondents are cautious about online content because it may be AI-generated. | KPMG, Oct 2025 (commissioned) |
How skilled are people in the UAE with AI?
32% of UAE adults say they know "a lot" about AI tools, more than double the 21-country average of 14%. (Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned))
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| 62% of UAE adults are "very interested" in learning about AI (average 36%). | Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned) |
| 43% of UAE adults expect to re-skill or take a course in the next five years because of AI (average 33%). | Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned) |
| 67% of UAE respondents have formal or informal training in AI or related fields. | University of Melbourne and KPMG, 2025 (commissioned) |
| 79% of UAE respondents feel they can use AI tools effectively. | University of Melbourne and KPMG, 2025 (commissioned) |
| Microsoft has committed to skill one million people in the UAE by the end of 2027. | Microsoft, Nov 2025 |
| Microsoft and UAE government entities launched an initiative to upskill 120,000 government employees across the federal government, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. | Microsoft, Nov 2025 |
| With the Ministry of AI, Microsoft plans to train more than 30,000 educators and 70,000 students across the UAE. | Microsoft, Nov 2025 |
What is the UAE government doing on AI?
The UAE Government's framework mandates agentic AI in 50% of government sectors, services and operations by 2028. (UAE Government, Sep 2026)
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| The UAE Government launched its Strategy for Artificial Intelligence in October 2017, which it describes as the first of its kind in the region and the world. | UAE Government, Dec 2024 |
| The UAE Cabinet adopted the National AI Strategy 2031 with eight strategic objectives, aiming to make the UAE a global leader in AI by 2031. | UAE Cabinet, Apr 2019 |
| 43% of UAE adults have "total confidence" in the UAE government to oversee AI in the public interest, against 9% across 21 countries. | Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned) |
| 52% of UAE adults strongly agree the government is doing a good job using AI to streamline operations and serve people, against 16% on average. | Ipsos for Google, Jan 2026 (commissioned) |
| 68% of UAE respondents say current AI regulations are sufficient to keep AI use safe, against a global average of 43%. | KPMG, Oct 2025 (commissioned) |
How much is being invested in AI infrastructure in the UAE?
Stargate UAE is a 1GW AI compute cluster in Abu Dhabi, with the first 200MW expected to go live in 2026. (OpenAI, May 2025)
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| Stargate UAE is the first international deployment of OpenAI's Stargate platform and the first OpenAI for Countries partnership. | OpenAI, May 2025 |
| OpenAI says Stargate UAE could serve AI compute within a 2,000-mile radius, reaching up to half the world's population. | OpenAI, May 2025 |
| Microsoft says it will invest $15.2 billion in the UAE between 2023 and the end of 2029. | Microsoft, Nov 2025 |
| Microsoft has accumulated the equivalent of 21,500 Nvidia A100 GPUs in the UAE under US export licences. | Microsoft, Nov 2025 |
| The UAE has committed to a 10-year, $1.4 trillion investment framework in the US covering AI infrastructure, semiconductors, energy and more. | The White House, May 2025 |
The US$1.4 trillion is UAE money committed to the United States, not investment in the UAE.
How we built this page
Every figure comes from the organisation that produced it: government bodies and regulators, company filings and official documents, and original research by the organisation that ran it. We opened each source, confirmed the number on the page and kept the exact wording in a verification sheet, checked on 15 October 2026. We left out the widely repeated claim that ChatGPT Plus is free for UAE residents, because OpenAI's own announcement does not say it. Survey figures from Ipsos for Google and from KPMG are labelled as commissioned. Research paid for by a company with an interest in the result is labelled "commissioned", and modelled figures are labelled "estimate". We check every source link monthly and refresh the numbers each quarter.
Sources
- Anthropic, Anthropic Economic Index, release 2026-06-26 (aei_claude_ai_2026-06-26.csv) (2026-06-26)
- Google (MENA blog), A new era for AI Search (2026-05-19)
- Google (MENA blog, Arabic), توفير "وضع AI" في البحث باللغة العربية (Introducing AI Mode in Search in Arabic) (2025-10-08)
- Ipsos for Google, Google / Ipsos Our Life With AI 2025 Survey - Topline (2026-01-15)
- KPMG Lower Gulf, 97% of UAE residents now use AI (press release) (2025-10-09)
- Microsoft, Microsoft’s $15.2 billion USD investment in the UAE (Microsoft On the Issues, Brad Smith) (2025-11-03)
- Microsoft, Microsoft Elevate UAE: Building a future-ready workforce (2025-11-05)
- Microsoft AI Economy Institute, Global AI Adoption in 2025: A Widening Digital Divide (2026-01)
- Microsoft AI Economy Institute, Global AI Diffusion: Q1 2026 Trends and Insights (2026-05)
- Microsoft AI Economy Institute, Global AI Diffusion: Q2 2026 Trends and Insights (2026-09)
- OpenAI, Introducing Stargate UAE (2025-05-22)
- Statcounter Global Stats, AI Chatbot Market Share United Arab Emirates, monthly CSV export Oct 2025 to Sep 2026 (2025-10)
- Statcounter Global Stats, AI Chatbot Market Share United Arab Emirates (2026-09)
- Statcounter Global Stats, AI Chatbot Market Share Worldwide (2026-09)
- Statcounter Global Stats, Search Engine Market Share United Arab Emirates (2026-09)
- Statcounter Global Stats, Google vs ChatGPT Market Share United Arab Emirates (2026-09)
- The White House, Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Secures $200 Billion in New U.S.-UAE Deals and Accelerates Previously Committed $1.4 Trillion UAE Investment (2025-05-15)
- UAE Cabinet, UAE Cabinet adopts National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031 (2019-04-21)
- UAE Government (u.ae official portal), UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (2024-12-30)
- UAE Government (u.ae official portal), Agentic AI for Government Services (2026-09-30)
- University of Melbourne and KPMG, Trust, attitudes and use of artificial intelligence: A global study 2025 - United Arab Emirates insights (2025)
