Key UAE AI chatbot and customer service statistics for 2026
- 72% of UAE businesses had adopted AI in 2026, up from 53% a year earlier. (AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned))
- 88% of UAE startups have adopted AI. (AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned))
- 47% of UAE businesses are still at a basic stage of AI use, such as publicly available chatbots for routine tasks or ready-made AI tools. (AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned))
- Abu Dhabi's TAMM government services platform resolves 95% of requests through AI. (Abu Dhabi Government Enablement, Jan 2026)
- At e& money, AI handled 88% of chat interactions in 2025 and cut complaint resolution time from days to hours. (e& annual report, Mar 2026)
- Over 1.6 million Emirates NBD customers use its WhatsApp banking channel, which offers 35+ services. (Emirates NBD, 2026)
- Fewer than a third of UAE businesses (32%) say they have heard of agentic AI. (AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned))
- 69% of UAE consumers prefer to speak with a human customer service representative rather than AI. (Visa, Dec 2025 (commissioned))
- 51% of UAE online shoppers use AI-powered chat tools when shopping online, the second-highest of 29 markets after India (59%). (DHL E-Commerce Trends, Jun 2026 (commissioned))
- 48% of UAE businesses cite a lack of digital skills as a major obstacle to AI adoption. (AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned))
- The UAE Government plans to move 50% of its sectors and services to agentic AI within two years, announced at the Cabinet meeting of 23 April 2026. (Dubai Media Office, Apr 2026)
- The UAE customer experience score has risen 9.5% since KPMG's local study began in 2017. (KPMG, 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 Chatbot & Customer Service Statistics 2026, Adjoltz, updated 15 October 2026, https://adjoltz.com/blog/uae-ai-chatbot-statistics/".
How many UAE businesses use AI?
72% of UAE businesses had adopted AI in 2026, up from 53% a year earlier. (AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned))
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| 82% of UAE media and entertainment businesses have adopted AI, the highest of the industries named. | AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned) |
| 79% of UAE financial services businesses have adopted AI. | AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned) |
| 76% of UAE retail businesses have adopted AI. | AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned) |
| 69% of UAE hospitality businesses have adopted AI. | AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned) |
| 88% of UAE startups have adopted AI. | AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned) |
| 68% of UAE small and medium-sized enterprises have adopted AI, slightly below the national average. | AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned) |
| Only 51% of large UAE businesses have adopted AI, behind startups. | AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned) |
| Business AI adoption in Europe stands at 54% in 2026, against 72% in the UAE on the same survey method. | AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned) |
How advanced is AI use in UAE businesses?
47% of UAE businesses are still at a basic stage of AI use, such as publicly available chatbots for routine tasks or ready-made AI tools. (AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned))
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| 19% of UAE businesses have reached an intermediate stage, using AI across several business functions, including for more innovative customer experiences. | AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned) |
| 31% of AI-adopting UAE businesses use AI's most advanced applications, such as custom systems, multiple models or agentic AI, up from 28% a year earlier. | AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned) |
| 45% of UAE CEOs say they use AI to a large or very large extent in demand generation, covering sales, marketing and customer service, above the global average. | PwC Middle East, Jan 2026 |
| 76% of UAE businesses plan to invest in AI-powered customer engagement in 2026. | SAP, Apr 2026 (commissioned) |
| 84% of UAE e-commerce businesses expect their use of AI tools to increase over the next five years, against 70% globally. | DHL E-Commerce Trends, Jun 2026 (commissioned) |
AWS reports the stages as shares of businesses; the 31% figure is a share of businesses already using AI.
How much customer service does AI handle in the UAE?
Abu Dhabi's TAMM government services platform resolves 95% of requests through AI. (Abu Dhabi Government Enablement, Jan 2026)
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| At e& money, AI handled 88% of chat interactions in 2025 and cut complaint resolution time from days to hours. | e& annual report, Mar 2026 |
| Careem's AI virtual assistants resolved 85% of customer support interactions end-to-end in 2025. | e& annual report, Mar 2026 |
| e& UAE's agentic billing advisor on WhatsApp, built from seven specialised AI agents, achieved a 97.5% conversation success rate in 2025. | e& annual report, Mar 2026 |
| 66% of UAE startups using AI say it has improved their customer experience. | AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned) |
| Abu Dhabi's TAMM platform had completed more than 1.9 million service cases through conversational AI by the end of 2025. | Abu Dhabi Government Enablement, Jan 2026 |
| TAMM resolves 90% of requests within one day. | Abu Dhabi Government Enablement, Jan 2026 |
| TAMM reports a 92.5% user satisfaction rate. | Abu Dhabi Government Enablement, Jan 2026 |
| By July 2025, the TAMM AI Assistant (launched October 2024) had handled more than 700,000 conversations and resolved 1.4 million cases. | Abu Dhabi Government Enablement, Jul 2025 |
"Resolved by AI" and "conversation success" are measured and reported by each organisation itself, with no shared definition. Careem's figure covers several countries.
Which UAE organisations run chatbots on WhatsApp?
Over 1.6 million Emirates NBD customers use its WhatsApp banking channel, which offers 35+ services. (Emirates NBD, 2026)
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| Dubai Islamic Bank's WhatsApp Banking subscriber base grew 45% in 2025 to more than 300,000 customers. | Dubai Islamic Bank, 2026 |
| DEWA customers can reach the Rammas AI assistant on WhatsApp Business at (04) 601 9999, as well as on DEWA's website, app, Facebook, Alexa and Google Assistant. | DEWA, Jan 2026 |
| RTA's WhatsApp channel offers 16 services. | Dubai RTA, May 2026 |
| DEWA's AI virtual employee Rammas handled over 1.6 million customer inquiries in Arabic and English in 2025. | DEWA, Jan 2026 |
| Rammas handled two million inquiries in 2024, 10% more than in 2023. | DEWA, Aug 2025 |
| Since its 2017 launch to the end of 2025, DEWA's Rammas has answered more than 12.7 million inquiries across DEWA's channels. | DEWA, Jan 2026 |
| Transactions through RTA's Mahboub virtual assistant rose 20.6% in 2025 compared with 2024. | Dubai RTA, May 2026 |
Rammas handled fewer inquiries in 2025 than in 2024, so the two figures are not a growth trend.
Are UAE businesses ready for AI agents?
Fewer than a third of UAE businesses (32%) say they have heard of agentic AI. (AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned))
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| Of UAE businesses familiar with agentic AI, 9% have fully deployed it and another 9% are experimenting or piloting it. | AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned) |
| Once agentic AI was explained to them, 57% of UAE businesses said they plan to use it or are considering it, while 30% have no plans. | AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned) |
| Only 21% of UAE businesses feel fully or very ready to adopt next-generation AI such as agentic AI, against 62% of startups. | AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned) |
| Nearly 60% of UAE businesses surveyed are strongly interested in, or actively exploring, agentic commerce use cases. | Visa, May 2026 (commissioned) |
| 59% of UAE e-commerce businesses expect customers to browse and buy more through AI-powered chat or virtual assistants over the next five years. | DHL E-Commerce Trends, Jun 2026 (commissioned) |
| Dubai launched a two-year programme on 4 May 2026 to move its private sector to agentic AI, with training for all Dubai Chamber business councils plus incubators and funds. | Dubai Media Office, May 2026 |
| First Abu Dhabi Bank advanced more than 30 agentic AI use cases in 2025, including in customer operations. | FAB, 2026 |
Do UAE customers prefer AI or a human agent?
69% of UAE consumers prefer to speak with a human customer service representative rather than AI. (Visa, Dec 2025 (commissioned))
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| 65% of UAE residents say they are willing to trust AI. | The University of Melbourne and KPMG, May 2025 (commissioned) |
| 25% of UAE residents believe the risks of AI outweigh its benefits. | The University of Melbourne and KPMG, May 2025 (commissioned) |
| 85% of UAE consumers believe AI will play a critical role in protecting them from fraud in future. | Visa, Jun 2026 (commissioned) |
| Globally, only 46% of people are willing to trust AI systems. | The University of Melbourne and KPMG, May 2025 (commissioned) |
| 87% of customers say companies using GenAI for customer service must offer an option to reach a human agent. | Gartner, Aug 2026 |
How good is customer experience in the UAE?
The UAE customer experience score has risen 9.5% since KPMG's local study began in 2017. (KPMG, May 2025)
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| The UAE customer experience score rebounded 1.5% in KPMG's 2025 study, returning to its 2022 level after a dip in 2023. | KPMG, May 2025 |
| Empathy is the slowest-growing of the six customer experience pillars KPMG tracks in the UAE, rising from 7.02 in 2017 to 7.69 in 2024. | KPMG, May 2025 |
| 74% of UAE businesses believe they deliver seamless customer experiences, yet 66% of UAE consumers are frustrated at being passed between teams to resolve one issue. | SAP, Apr 2026 (commissioned) |
| 47% of UAE consumers say organisations are still too slow to use their data in ways that deliver real value. | SAP, Apr 2026 (commissioned) |
KPMG's scores are index points out of 10, not percentages.
How do UAE shoppers use AI chat?
51% of UAE online shoppers use AI-powered chat tools when shopping online, the second-highest of 29 markets after India (59%). (DHL E-Commerce Trends, Jun 2026 (commissioned))
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| 93% of UAE consumers feel new technologies, including AI-powered tools, are making online shopping faster and easier. | Visa, Jun 2026 (commissioned) |
| 80% of UAE consumers surveyed use AI to enhance their shopping experience. | Visa, Dec 2025 (commissioned) |
| 37% of UAE shoppers expect to browse and buy more through AI-powered chat or virtual assistants over the next five years, against 23% globally. | DHL E-Commerce Trends, Jun 2026 (commissioned) |
| 61% of UAE shoppers regularly use AI to help with holiday purchases. | Mastercard, Dec 2025 (commissioned) |
| 47% of shoppers in the Middle East and North Africa say they are likely to let AI make shopping decisions or purchases for them within five years, against 29% globally. | DHL E-Commerce Trends, Jun 2026 (commissioned) |
| 50% of consumers in MENA say they are ready to let AI agents shop on their behalf. | Checkout.com, May 2026 (commissioned) |
Lines marked MENA cover the wider Middle East and North Africa, not just the UAE.
What holds back AI adoption in UAE businesses?
48% of UAE businesses cite a lack of digital skills as a major obstacle to AI adoption. (AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned))
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| 31% of UAE organisations say a lack of internal funds is stopping them from expanding their use of AI. | AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned) |
| 34% of UAE businesses say unclear rules on data control, access and governance hold back their AI adoption. | AWS and UAE AI Office, Sep 2026 (commissioned) |
| 57% of UAE consumers feel AI has made scams easier to recognise. | Visa, Jun 2026 (commissioned) |
| 55% of MENA consumers cite privacy as a primary barrier to letting AI agents shop for them. | Checkout.com, May 2026 (commissioned) |
| 35% of UAE shoppers say an AI agent repeatedly getting their preferences wrong would harm their confidence most. | Checkout.com, Aug 2026 (commissioned) |
What is the UAE government doing with AI agents?
The UAE Government plans to move 50% of its sectors and services to agentic AI within two years, announced at the Cabinet meeting of 23 April 2026. (Dubai Media Office, Apr 2026)
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| In May 2026 the UAE Government launched its first four AI agents, one of them a Customer Happiness AI Agent that gives service staff fast access to information. | Dubai Media Office, May 2026 |
What do global benchmarks say about AI in customer service?
Service teams worldwide estimate that 30% of customer service cases are handled by AI today and expect this to reach 50% by 2027. (Salesforce, Nov 2025 (commissioned))
| Statistic | Source |
|---|---|
| Half of customers worldwide say a lack of empathy is their biggest customer service frustration, but only 23% of executives treat empathy as a priority. | ServiceNow, Apr 2026 (commissioned) |
| 46% of customers worldwide say current chatbots do not understand their questions and concerns. | ServiceNow, Apr 2026 (commissioned) |
| 49% of customers say they would have used a chatbot if offered one, but only 7% actually used a chatbot or digital assistant in their latest service interaction. | Gartner, Sep 2026 |
| Gartner predicts that by 2029 agentic AI will resolve 80% of common customer service issues without human help, cutting operating costs by 30%. | Gartner, Mar 2025 |
| Globally, 58% of e-commerce businesses already have customer service chatbots or virtual assistants on their platforms. | DHL E-Commerce Trends, Jun 2026 (commissioned) |
| Only 24% of customer service leaders could show positive financial returns from their AI use cases. | Gartner, Jul 2026 |
Every figure in this section is worldwide, given as a benchmark for UAE businesses.
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. UAE figures from ServiceNow and Salesforce appear only in press coverage, not on the companies' own pages, so we used their global figures and marked them as worldwide. 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
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) with the UAE Artificial Intelligence Office; survey by Strand Partners, Unlocking the UAE's AI Potential 2026 (2026-09-30)
- Checkout.com, From Invisible Payments to AI Agents: Why Trust is the New Currency for Digital Commerce in MENA (MENA Digital Commerce 2026 report) (2026-05-13)
- Checkout.com, Consumers welcome agentic commerce in MENA (2026-08-03)
- Department of Government Enablement (DGE), Abu Dhabi, TAMM named world's best e-Government project at WSIS Prizes 2025 (2025-07-07)
- Department of Government Enablement (DGE), Abu Dhabi, Department of Government Enablement records landmark year under AI-native vision (2026-01-08)
- DHL eCommerce (DHL Group), 2026 E-Commerce Trends Report (2026-06-02)
- Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), DEWA's virtual employee powered by ChatGPT handles two million inquiries in 2024 (2025-08-05)
- Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), DEWA's virtual employee Rammas handled over 1.6 million inquiries in 2025 (2026-01-24)
- Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC, DIB Integrated Report 2025 (2026)
- e& (Emirates Telecommunications Group Company PJSC), e& Integrated Annual Report 2025 (2026-03)
- Emirates NBD Bank PJSC, Emirates NBD Annual Report 2025 (2026)
- First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC (FAB), FAB Annual Report 2025 (2026)
- Gartner, Inc., Gartner Predicts Agentic AI Will Autonomously Resolve 80% of Common Customer Service Issues Without Human Intervention by 2029 (2025-03-05)
- Gartner, Inc., Gartner Survey Finds Customers Are 3x More Likely to Use Third-Party GenAI Than Company-Provided Chatbots for Customer Service (2026-07-08)
- Gartner, Inc., Gartner Survey Finds 87% of Customers Say Companies Using GenAI for Customer Service Must Provide Access to a Human Agent (2026-08-04)
- Gartner, Inc., Gartner Survey Finds Only 27% of Customers Would Try a Chatbot Again After a Negative Experience (2026-09-02)
- Government of Dubai Media Office, Hamdan bin Mohammed launches Dubai private sector shift to Agentic AI within two years (2026-05-04)
- Government of Dubai Media Office, Mohammed bin Rashid attends national retreat showcasing projects, key features of next phase of UAE Government's Agentic AI project (2026-05-20)
- Government of Dubai Media Office (UAE Cabinet announcement), Mohammed bin Rashid chairs UAE Cabinet meeting / unveils framework to deploy agentic AI across 50% of government sectors (2026-04-23)
- KPMG Middle East, Where AI ends and the human touch begins: Customer experience excellence 2025, United Arab Emirates (2025-05)
- Mastercard, Mastercard Consumer Shopper Snapshot 2025 reveals growing shift towards intentional holiday shopping in UAE (2025-12-18)
- PwC Middle East, PwC's 29th Global CEO Survey: UAE findings (2026-01-28)
- Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), via Government of Dubai Media Office, RTA generates AED 5.3 billion in digital channel revenue in 2025 (Dubai Media Office) (2026-05-31)
- Salesforce, AI Expected to Resolve Half of Service Cases by 2027, Data Shows (7th State of Service report) (2025-11-13)
- SAP (SAP UAE Engagement Index Report), SAP Renames SAP Emarsys Solution to SAP Engagement Cloud (press release citing the SAP UAE Engagement Index Report) (2026-04-01)
- ServiceNow (research by ThoughtLab), The CX Shift: A study of customer expectations in the AI era (2026-04)
- ServiceNow (research by ThoughtLab), The CX Shift: A study of customer expectations in the AI era (2026-04-01)
- The University of Melbourne and KPMG, Trust, attitudes and use of artificial intelligence: A global study 2025. United Arab Emirates insights (2025-05)
- The University of Melbourne and KPMG, Trust, attitudes and use of artificial intelligence: A global study 2025 (2025-05)
- Visa, Visa Releases 2025 Spending Shift Survey Data: AI Transforming How UAE Consumers Shop and Spend (2025-12-08)
- Visa, Visa Study: 85% in UAE Use AI to Shop, But Trust is Key at Checkout (Stay Secure study 2026) (2026-06-09)
- Visa (research by Fast Company Middle East in partnership with Visa), Visa Launches "Agentic Ready" Program in UAE to Accelerate Agent Led Commerce (2026-05-20)
