Local talent vital for UAE to achieve AI ambitions

July 24, 2024, 7:52 AM

'Growing local talent is not a luxury' – experts say the UAE must move beyond hiring AI workers from abroad

UAE aims to be AI leader
Potential $320bn economic impact
Dubai mandates AI officers

The UAE is on a quest to lead the artificial intelligence sector but one of the stumbling blocks it is striving to address is the lack of local professionals coming into the industry.

AI is expected to contribute $320 billion to the Mena region’s economy by 2030 – $96 billion of which will be attributed to the UAE, according to a report from consultants PwC.

Although the number of AI workers in the Emirates quadrupled to 120,000 from 2021 to 2023, experienced and qualified applicants are likely to remain in high demand among large tech companies and government entities.

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More than two-thirds of companies in the UAE are struggling to find the necessary people to fill AI-related roles, according to Dell Technologies.

Last month the UAE signed a deal with South Korea’s Samsung to promote AI learning among the country’s youth.

“Growing local talent is not a luxury – rather an imperative for long-term capability and capacity building,” says Alain Hasrouny, principal, Middle East and Africa at consultancy firm Kearney.

Enrolments in generative AI courses in the UAE increased by 1,102 percent in 2023, according to Coursera, an American online course provider.

A month-long undergraduate internship at the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in Abu Dhabi, which ended in June, attracted 45 international students in the STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – and the second edition of the undergraduate research internship programme has grown by almost one-third year on year.

“Some of the businesses in the UAE are taking some of the best Emirati talent and training and developing them, but there’s also other businesses that are trying to buy in the best talent because they have such an immediate need,” says Stuart Fry, group CEO of Halian, a recruitment and IT services company. “People need to do both.”

The UAE launched its National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031 seven years ago. In 2017 it became the first country in the world to appoint a government minister for AI, Omar Al Olama, and this year Dubai ordered that all federal entities must have a chief executive for AI.

Fry says hiring was traditionally concentrated on workers from Asia, India, the UK, Germany, France and Spain, but the incentives offered is resulting in applications from more untapped markets “where the talent level is incredible”.

“People across the US and South America are now seeing the Middle East as a much more attractive option than they did five or 10 years ago,” he says.

The UAE has extended its Golden Visa programme to attract more tech professionals, scientists and researchers.

In May Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Dubai AI Campus at Dubai International Financial Centre, which aims to attract over 500 tech companies and create more than 3,000 jobs.

The results of these changes are unlikely to be felt immediately, however.

Stefan Srnic, principal MEA at Kearney, says: “While there are significant investments being made to offer new and innovative programs and to boost R&D expenditure, the outcomes of these efforts will be observed in a few years.”