The Gulf’s Shift to Digital Innovations

The Gulf countries’ digital technologies adoption is growing at an impressive scale with organizations using it across business functions.

Digital innovations, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced data analytics, are set to fundamentally transform the energy sector and various other industries, driving efficiencies and enabling a shift toward smarter, more sustainable systems.

AI usage in the GCC is rapidly evolving, with approximately 84% of organizations now utilizing AI in at least one business function, up from 62% in 2023. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are leading with strong government support and national strategies to embrace digital transformation.

Smart grids, IoT and AI set to strengthen the resilience and sustainability of power systems. Generative AI will be instrumental in addressing the energy sector’s dual challenge of meeting growing demand, while accelerating energy transition to net-zero emissions. AI drives profound changes, from optimizing grid operations and forecasting consumption to predictive maintenance and enhanced customer service.

The transformative impact of emerging technologies, particularly AI, is projected to generate an annual economic value of $11 trillion to $18 trillion, by revolutionizing industries such as energy, logistics and manufacturing, according to a report by Invest Qatar.

The oil and gas producers in the region are committing billions of dollars in technology partnerships that will power AI usage. To scale and remain competitive, they are investing in digital automation and robotics, digital twin modelling, AI-enabled products, and more.

The organizations see digitalization as a core enabler of their operational strategy. Saudi Aramco, for example, used decades of operational data to build a gen AI model with 250 billion parameters, helping it analyze drilling plans, geological data, historical drilling time, and costs.

Qatar signed a five-year partnership with US firm Scale AI to accelerate AI adoption across government entities, aiming to enhance public services through predictive analytics, automation, and data analysis. The collaboration will develop over 50 AI applications, positioning Qatar as a regional leader in AI.

Also noteworthy is the current shift from Generative AI to Agentic AI, which functions as a digital colleague capable of independent reasoning and autonomous operations.

UAE’s Adnoc has launched a new AI system that it has developed in partnership with Abu Dhabi-based firms AIQ and G42, as well as technology giant Microsoft. The system ‘ENERGYai’ will be the first to apply agentic AI at scale within the energy industry. It is designed to act autonomously, analyze vast datasets in real-time, and drive significant operational improvements. Unlike traditional AI, ENERGYai can make decisions and take action without constant human intervention. These specialized AI agents bring autonomy and precision to critical tasks, from seismic analysis to energy efficiency and real-time process monitoring.

The region aspires to scale the digital innovations for robust growth across the entire energy value chain.

Editor