Authored by: Dr. Anurag Byala, CEO, Techies Infotech, a global digital transformation & commerce company

Everyone’s talking about ChatGPT. Big corporations are hosting AI transformation workshops. Consultants are selling million-dirham roadmaps. But here’s what nobody’s telling you: while enterprises are still forming committees to discuss AI adoption, UAE startups are already winning the race. And the best part? This might be the most level playing field we’ve seen in decades.

The great equalizer. Think about it. AI is still evolving. We’re on the ground floor. Whether you’re a billion-dollar conglomerate or a three-person team working out of DIFC’s Hub71, you’re accessing the same GPT-4, the same Claude, and the same open-source models. The technology doesn’t care about your market cap. Every business—big or small—is starting from the same line. The difference? Speed. And in the UAE’s startup ecosystem, speed isn’t just an advantage—it’s a necessity. It’s the entire game.

1.  AI-powered customer service that actually works

While corporates are negotiating year-long contracts with enterprise chatbot vendors, UAE startups are spinning up customer service agents in days. They’re using platforms like Voiceflow and Stack AI to build conversational interfaces that actually understand Arabic dialects—crucial in a market where your customer might switch between English, Arabic, and Urdu in the same sentence.

A fintech startup in Dubai recently told me they handle 87% of customer queries without human intervention. Their secret? They’re not waiting for perfect. They’re iterating weekly based on honest conversations, something a corporate legal team would take months to approve.

2.  Spec-driven development is killing traditional coding

Here’s where it gets interesting. Tech startups in the UAE have already started replacing traditional software development cycles with AI agents. Platforms like Cursor, v0 by Vercel, and Replit’s AI pair programmer aren’t just helping developers code faster—they’re letting non-technical founders build products.

You write the specification. The AI writes the code. You test it. You refine it. What used to take a team of developers three months now takes a founder with vision three weeks. And when you’re bootstrapping in Dubai’s Internet City or Abu Dhabi’s ADGM, that timeline difference isn’t just convenient—it’s survival.

3.  The incubator advantage nobody talks about

Dubai has an AI Campus, a Center of Artificial Intelligence, and the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Excellence. Abu Dhabi has Hub71 and ADGM’s RegLab. Sharjah has Sheraa. But here’s what makes these incubators special in the AI era: they’re knowledge accelerators.

When a startup in Hub71 figures out a clever AI workflow, they share it over coffee. When someone cracks multimodal search for e-commerce in a market with three languages, it spreads through the

ecosystem in days. Try getting that knowledge transfer in a corporate tower where departments don’t even share the same floor.

The UAE’s startup ecosystem isn’t just about funding anymore. It’s about collective intelligence moving at WhatsApp speed.

4.  Fail fast, fix faster—no corporate theatre required

Big corporations have a problem: failure is documented, analyzed, presented, and archived. Startups have a different relationship with failure—they expect it, learn from it, and move on before lunch.

Testing an AI cold email sequence? A startup tries five variations this week. A corporate marketing department schedules a meeting next quarter to discuss testing parameters.

Building an AI voice agent for bookings? A startup launches a beta to 50 customers on Monday—a corporation waits for legal, compliance, and brand approval, and three VP signatures.

The UAE’s regulatory environment, especially in free zones, enables this experimental velocity. You can test, iterate, and scale without navigating the bureaucratic maze that slows down established companies.

5.  AI sales teams that work while you sleep

UAE startups are deploying AI SDRs (Sales Development Representatives) that operate 24/7. These aren’t basic bots—they’re sophisticated systems that research prospects, personalize outreach, qualify leads, and book meetings.

A SaaS startup targeting regional enterprises told me their AI SDR reached out to 2,000 decision-makers last month, personalized each message based on LinkedIn data and company news, and booked 47 qualified meetings. Their human sales team of two focused entirely on closing deals.

Try getting that level of automation approved through a corporate sales enablement process. You’d still be filling out the business case template.

6.  Compliance is their moat—and your opportunity

Big corporates love to talk about their “robust compliance frameworks.” But here’s the dirty secret: compliance frameworks designed for 2019 don’t know what to do with AI in 2025.

Can we use LLMs to process customer data? That requires a privacy review, a security audit, a risk committee meeting, and a sign-off from three departments. By the time they get approval, the technology will have advanced two generations.

Startups, especially those in UAE free zones with clear regulatory sandboxes, can move faster. They’re building compliance into their AI workflows from day one, not retrofitting it into legacy systems.

7.  Small teams are the competitive advantage

Here’s the paradox: in the AI era, being small is better. A five-person startup can adopt a new AI tool across the entire company in a team meeting. A 5,000-person corporation needs change management, training programs, and a year-long rollout plan.

When GPT-4 launched, UAE startups rebuilt their products in weeks. Corporations formed AI steering committees that are still meeting quarterly to discuss strategy.

The hierarchy that once signaled strength—layers of management, specialized departments, approval chains—is now dead weight. AI rewards agility, and agility lives in small teams.

The race you didn’t know you were winning. If you’re running a startup in the UAE right now, you’re sitting on an asymmetric advantage that won’t last forever. Big corporations will figure this out eventually. They’ll hire the consultants, restructure their teams, and deploy AI at scale. The question isn’t whether you can compete with corporates using AI. The question is: how much ground can you cover before they even get started? The starting line is level. The finish line hasn’t been drawn yet. And in the UAE’s startup ecosystem, you’ve got everything you need—the infrastructure, the community, the regulatory environment, and most importantly, the speed—to win this race. The only question left is: are you running fast enough?

More about the author: Dr. Anurag Byala is a business leader with 15+ years of experience in technology, helping eCommerce and digital businesses scale across the GCC. His journey—from working at a multinational corporation to founding Techies Infotech—has been centered on building solutions that genuinely move the needle for customers. Along the way, he completed his Doctorate in Business Administration at ESC Clermont Business School in France, where he focused on consumer behavior in

e-commerce. Under his leadership, Techies Infotech has grown into a global player, delivering

AI-powered software solutions that enable faster time-to-market, greater cost efficiency, and compliance with international quality standards. The company serves enterprises across Digital Transformation, Tech Consulting, eCommerce, and Software Development in MENA and beyond. Dr. Byala has been recognized as one of the Top 50 Business Growth Leaders in Technology at the BizzTalk World Conference. He is also a mentor to startups and an active contributor to industry forums, passionate about scaling businesses and building future-ready teams. Outside work, he enjoys playing cricket and padel, exploring new places, and spending time with family.

Kayvan Karim, Assistant Professor at School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Heriot-Watt University Dubai

The year 2025 will likely be remembered as the moment the global economy stopped simply automating tasks and started handing over the keys to autonomous agents. For decades, the promise of automation was simple: machines doing repetitive work faster than humans. But the last twelve months have ushered in a fundamental paradigm shift. We have moved from the era of static scripts to the age of “Agentic AI”, systems that don’t just follow orders but perceive, reason, and act to achieve complex goals.

In their 2025 Technology Trends report, Accenture’s analysts have termed the explosion of these capabilities as “The Binary Big Bang”. As generative AI becomes central to enterprise technology, the cost of development has plummeted, leading to a proliferation of new systems where digital agents act autonomously. These systems have given rise to Agentic AI, which acts as a proactive partner rather than a passive interface. These agents are now capable of “Superagency,” a collaboration architecture that orchestrates multi-agent systems to handle complex workflows that require specialised knowledge across different domains.

This shift is nowhere more palpable than in the Middle East. From the giga-projects of Saudi Arabia to the smart logistics hubs of Dubai, the region is leveraging this technological inflection point to decouple its economic future from hydrocarbons and rebuild it on a foundation of silicon and code.

The Economics of Intelligence

The catalyst for this revolution is a dramatic collapse in the cost of cognitive labour. When examining the economics of intelligence, Stanford University reported in its 2025 AI Index Report that the catalyst for this explosion in autonomy is the radical democratisation of computing power. Between late 2022 and late 2024, the inference cost for a system performing at the level of GPT-3.5 dropped over 280-fold. This trend accelerated through 2025, with hardware costs declining by approximately 30% annually and energy efficiency improving by 40% each year.

These economic shifts have lowered the barriers to entry, moving advanced AI from the realm of massive research labs to the operational budgets of mid-sized enterprises. As Menlo Ventures noted in their mid-year update, enterprise spending on model APIs more than doubled to $8.4 billion in the first half of 2025 alone, signalling a decisive shift from experimental “training” budgets to production-grade “inference” budgets.

The Middle East’s Sovereign Pivot

In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), this technological wave is being ridden with strategic intent. The region is not content to merely import Western or Eastern models; it is building its own “Sovereign AI.”

In the UAE, the Technology Innovation Institute (TII) has continued to push boundaries with its Falcon series. As highlighted by ITU in 2025, the Falcon LLM has evolved into a multi-modal framework capable of processing vision and audio, enabling it to interpret complex documents and charts locally without data leaving the country. Similarly, G42’s Inception has solidified Jais’s position as the world’s premier Arabic-centric model. By integrating Jais into the Microsoft Azure Model Catalogue, they have provided generative AI access to over 400 million Arabic speakers, ensuring that the nuances of the region’s language and culture are preserved in the digital age.

Saudi Arabia has matched this ambition with the launch of Humain, a PIF-backed AI champion. According to Reuters reports from late 2025, Humain is not only building massive data centre capacity but is also developing a voice-first operating system designed to replace traditional icon-based interfaces. This aligns with the Kingdom’s broader Vision 2030 goals, where AI is expected to contribute over $135 billion to the economy.

From Automation to Autonomy in Industry

The distinction between “automation” (following rules) and “autonomy” (making decisions) is best illustrated in the region’s critical infrastructure.

In the energy sector, Saudi Aramco and Yokogawa achieved a historic milestone at the Fadhili Gas Plant. As reported by Oilfield Technology, they successfully deployed autonomous control AI agents that utilise reinforcement learning to optimise the Acid Gas Removal unit actively. Unlike traditional systems, these agents adapt to changing environmental conditions without human intervention, reducing chemical and steam consumption by up to 15%.

Similarly, ADNOC partnered with G42 and Microsoft to launch “EnergyAI.” This agentic system automates complex tasks such as seismic analysis and geological modelling, compressing workflows that used to take months into mere days.

In logistics, the shift is physical. DP World has revolutionised container handling at Jebel Ali with the BoxBay system. As described by Marine Insight, this high-bay storage technology stacks containers up to 11 tiers high in a steel rack, allowing fully automated cranes to access any container without having to reshuffle others. This change increases terminal capacity by 300% and creates a safer, more efficient operating environment.

The GenAI Divide: Enterprises vs. SMEs

While giants like Aramco and DP World forge ahead, the picture for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is more complex. Project NANDA’s 2025 research highlights a “GenAI Divide,” revealing that while 95% of organisations are investing in AI, only 5% are extracting significant value.

For SMEs, the barriers are talent and infrastructure. However, the rise of Low-Code/No-Code platforms is providing a bridge. As reported by Gulf News, Zoho has seen 50% growth in the region, driven by businesses modernising legacy systems without the need for expensive engineering teams.

To further support this sector, the Saudi SME Bank launched Phase II of its Agency Model in 2025. By partnering with crowdfunding platforms like Manafa and Lendo, they have allocated SAR 240 million specifically to finance SME growth and digital transformation.

The Future of Work: A Divergent Path

The impact on the job market is profound. The World Economic Forum’s “Future of Jobs 2025” report predicts a divergent effect: while routine roles in administration and manual labour are declining, demand for AI and big data specialists is surging.

In the GCC, this dynamic intersects with nationalisation agendas. Governments are using AI to solve the skills mismatch. The Massar Al Ghurair platform, launched in the UAE in 2025, uses AI algorithms to match Emirati youth with career paths and upskilling opportunities. By automating career counselling and recruitment, the region aims to replace low-skilled expatriate labour with high-skilled local talent.

Looking Ahead to 2026

As we look toward 2026, the focus will shift from adoption to governance and integration. Gartner forecasts that IT spending in the MENA region will reach $169 billion in 2026, an 8.9% increase mainly driven by AI infrastructure.

We can expect the realisation of “Cognitive Cities.” In Saudi Arabia, NEOM is moving from earthworks to deploying a cognitive operating system that predicts resident needs. Meanwhile, Dubai’s Cashless Strategy aims to have 90% of all transactions be digital by 2026, creating a data-rich environment for further autonomous innovation.

The year 2025 was the year the machines started to think. The year 2026 will be the year we learn to live and work alongside them.

Artificial intelligence is emerging as an unexpected ally in one of humanity’s oldest struggles: turning dreams into reality. After years spent working with thousands of entrepreneurs, corporates, startups, and students, individuals standing at every possible crossroad of ambition, uncertainty, and reinvention, a pattern has surfaced with striking consistency. Most people are not held back by the size of their dreams. They are held back by the psychological distance between who they are today and who they hope to become. AI, with its growing ability to illuminate patterns, reduce overwhelm, and bring the future self-closer, is beginning to reshape this fundamental human challenge.

Across conversations in boardrooms, incubators, classrooms and quiet mentoring sessions, this distance appears in countless forms. A bright student maps out a compelling future but loses momentum within days. A corporate leader imagines a more meaningful life but finds the path too overwhelming. An entrepreneur gains clarity but cannot sustain action long enough to see results. Ambition is abundant. Follow through remains elusive.

The research behind this is both revealing and deeply human. Studies from UCLA, Stanford and other behavioral laboratories demonstrate that individuals act more consistently when they feel emotionally connected to their future self. Yet most people experience that version of themselves not as an extension of who they are, but as a stranger, someone they hope to meet one day but rarely feel responsible for today. As behavioral economists often explain, we don’t make sacrifices for strangers. And so the dream, however sincere, slips into the long grass of “someday. “This explains why nearly 92% of people fail to achieve the goals they set each year. Dreams are not the problem. The disconnect is.

People blame discipline or lack of motivation, but the truth is simpler. The human mind is wired to favor the familiar. The comfort zone, often demonised, is really just biology ­trying to protect us from the uncertain. Yet underneath those instincts lies an innate desire for growth, a longing to expand, to evolve, to become the person one senses they could be.

For years, the missing ingredient was structural support. A vision, no matter how inspiring, cannot survive without a scaffold. People needed a way to break overwhelming goals into manageable steps. They needed reflection, accountability, and a rhythm that kept intention alive long enough for identity to shift. Most never had access to that level of support. This is where AI has quietly begun altering the landscape of human development.

In recent global surveys, nearly 40% of people expressed willingness to use AI for emotional clarity, self-reflection, and goal-setting. The World Health Organization launched pilot programmes using conversational AI to support mental wellness in regions with limited resources. Early research across Stanford and MIT shows that AI-assisted coaching improves consistency, habit adherence, and long-term follow through. The reason is not complicated. AI offers something the human mind struggles to maintain: clarity without fatigue.

It notices emotional cycles, the midweek dip, the avoidance that follows stressful meetings, the patterns that appear but go unrecognised. It highlights the small behaviours that shape larger outcomes. It breaks down a daunting dream into a sequence of steps simple enough to act on. And it does this with presence, available at the precise moment a person needs support, rather than during a weekly appointment.

What emerges is a new kind of ecosystem. The integration of AI into mobile technology has made tools for self-improvement astonishingly accessible. Personalised guidance, once available only to those who could afford coaching or therapy, now exists in people’s pockets. It is immediate, responsive, and deeply personal. This accessibility represents the democratisation of personal transformation, a shift as meaningful as AI’s impact on coding, business building, or creative work.

Yet AI alone is not the solution. Its impact is most profound when it works alongside the wisdom of coaching, the emotional insight of reflection, and a clear vision of one’s future self. When these elements converge, something remarkable happens: people stop dreaming abstractly and begin acting concretely. They replace “someday” with “today.” The future stops feeling distant. Action becomes less of a battle and more of a natural extension of identity.

This convergence of psychology, coaching and intelligent technology represents one of the most significant shifts in human development in decades. It finally offers a way to bridge the space between intention and behaviour, a gap that has defeated generations of dreamers.

If most people never achieve their dreams, it is not because those dreams are unreachable. It is because the scaffolding required to turn dreams into daily behaviour has been missing.

But that is beginning to change.

With the right structure, the right clarity, and the right support, both human and technological, more people can finally walk into the future they have imagined for far too long. The promise of AI is not that it will change who we are, but that it may help us become who we were always capable of being.