Too many GCC organizations are rushing to adopt artificial intelligence without answering a more fundamental question: What is our strategy?

AI is not a strategy. It is a tool - a powerful one - that amplifies your existing clarity or chaos. If your business lacks focus, AI will scale the confusion. But if you have a clear vision and a strong operational foundation, AI can accelerate your competitive edge.

In a region where AI investment is surging, this distinction matters more than ever.

The AI Gold Rush — and Its Growing ROI Gap

McKinsey’s 2025 research shows that 78% of organizations now use AI in at least one business function, up from 55% just a year earlier. Yet only 17% of respondents say more than 5% of their EBIT can be attributed to generative AI use. And while nearly three out of four organizations are experimenting with gen AI, the gap between deployment and value realization remains significant.

Only 17% of organizations report any measurable EBIT impact from their use of generative AI. This shortfall often reflects a deeper issue: companies are failing to integrate AI into the core of how their business operates. In contrast, those that have redesigned workflows, involved senior leadership in AI governance, and reassigned time saved from automation toward high-value activities are significantly more likely to report positive outcomes. These organizational shifts—not the tools themselves—are what drive real value.

Further, although 71% of organizations now report regular use of gen AI in at least one function, only 21% have fundamentally redesigned workflows to enable it, and fewer than 20% track well-defined KPIs for AI performance. These figures reflect a persistent challenge: widespread experimentation without strategic alignment and operational integration.

The GCC mirrors this global pattern of rapid adoption with rising ambition, but not always clear returns. In the past 18 months alone, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have announced AI-related initiatives totaling over $150 billion. These initiatives reflect not just regional competitiveness but a geopolitical bid to shape the global AI landscape. Yet while 47% of GCC companies report measurable AI value, only 25% have reached high AI maturity.

One major reason? AI is often deployed without strategic alignment. Studies show that 85% of failed AI projects falter due to lack of business clarity, underestimating data needs, or disconnected KPIs. In the GCC, challenges include poor data quality, fragmented systems, and a persistent talent gap. These underlying issues rarely appear in pitch decks but routinely surface in post-mortem reviews.

When Strategy Is Unclear, AI Only Speeds Up the Misalignment

AI is a multiplier - not a map.

When deployed against well-defined goals, AI can optimize, accelerate, and scale. But without that clarity, it amplifies inefficiencies. Misaligned pilots, over-engineered use cases, and orphaned AI tools are symptoms of a deeper issue: a lack of strategy.

This dynamic has played out in high-profile global cases:

• IBM Watson Health burned through $5 billion before collapsing. With limited data integration and no clinical alignment, it became a cautionary tale.

• Zillow's AI home-buying model overstated market value, leading to $500M in losses and mass layoffs.

• In the GCC, multiple oil & gas pilots stalled or caused operational disruptions when AI was deployed without KPI alignment.

These failures are not technical. They are strategic.

AI Works Best When It Amplifies What Already Works

Think of AI as a megaphone: it broadcasts whatever signal you give it - strong or weak.

When grounded in strong business foundations, AI becomes a force multiplier. McKinsey identifies "AI high performers" as those who derive 20% or more of their EBIT from AI applications. These organizations:

• Target high-impact use cases aligned to business goals

• Build AI into workflows and decision loops

• Scale pilots into enterprise-wide systems

One regional example is Saudi Aramco:

• AI-driven predictive maintenance cut downtime by 40%

• AI-assisted exploration cut dry well drilling by 50%

• Results stemmed from AI being tied directly to operational strategy

Another notable trend among AI high performers is how they embed AI governance structures early. Rather than relying on ad hoc experimentation, these companies establish internal AI steering committees, define performance metrics, and ensure legal and ethical oversight from the outset. In doing so, they create feedback loops that enable continual learning, rather than one-off deployment.

Framework: Are You Ready to Amplify?

Before launching AI initiatives, leadership must assess readiness across three areas:

1. Clarity: What problem are we solving? What business outcome are we targeting?

2. Data: Do we have clean, connected, and accessible data that supports that goal?

3. Culture: Are teams empowered to trust, adapt to, and work alongside AI?

Without these, AI implementation should pause or be scoped tightly. Governance matters more than hype.

Many organizations struggle most with the third component: culture. Executives often underestimate the level of change management required to successfully adopt AI. Employees must not only learn new tools but also unlearn habits, assumptions, and legacy workflows. In the absence of strong change management strategies, even the most sophisticated AI projects will meet internal resistance, skepticism, or passive noncompliance. Building an AI-ready culture is less about training models and more about training mindsets.

The GCC Context: Ambition, Acceleration, and AI Capacity Gaps

The GCC continues to emerge as a global AI ambition zone. Every member state now has a national AI strategy, and according to the Oxford Insights 2024 Government AI Readiness Index, recent rankings reflect measurable progress in public-sector readiness:

• United Arab Emirates: Ranked 13th globally in AI readiness, the UAE leads the region. Its strategy is backed by initiatives such as the National AI Strategy 2031, the Mohammed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), and more than 35 operational data centers across the country.

• Saudi Arabia: Now ranked 22nd, up significantly from prior years, fueled by over $20 billion in AI and digital economy investments under the Vision 2030 umbrella. This includes Project Transcendence, a $100 billion AI-centric economic transformation initiative.

• Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain: Ranked 32nd, 45th, and 68th respectively, these countries are actively embedding AI into smart government initiatives, public service reform, and economic diversification efforts.

Notable examples of this ambition include:

• Saudi Arabia: In addition to Project Transcendence, the Kingdom is launching a $40 billion AI investment fund, has committed $5.3 billion through AWS to expand local data infrastructure, and is establishing a national semiconductor design hub to support AI innovation.

• United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi’s $100+ billion MGX Fund is targeting global AI investments, while the UAE’s Stargate Project, involving partners like Nvidia, OpenAI, Cisco, and Oracle, aims to build one of the world’s largest AI data campuses.

The region is climbing steadily but unevenly. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are outpacing regional peers thanks to early investments and whole-of-government coordination, while other countries show promise but face structural capacity gaps, particularly in talent availability and regulatory maturity.

Despite ambitious visions, execution bottlenecks persist:

• Talent: GCC countries continue to face shortages of skilled AI professionals, particularly bilingual engineers, data scientists, and AI project managers.

• Integration Readiness: Many agencies operate with fragmented or outdated data systems, hindering AI integration into daily operations.

• Cultural Adoption: Inertia and risk-aversion in public institutions can slow AI project adoption unless leaders prioritize internal change management.

In short, the GCC is well-positioned to lead, but realizing this potential will depend on execution. That means aligning visionary policy with operational capacity, and treating AI as a tool for system-wide transformation, not a one-off technology play.

Conclusion: Plan, Align, Then Amplify

AI does not replace strategic thinking. It reflects it.

The companies that will lead the GCC’s digital transformation will not be those that deployed AI first, but those who deployed it right. That means:

• Clear goals

• Governed, high-quality data

• An empowered, cross-functional culture

At Strigence, we help organizations cut through the noise. Through structured assessments and readiness frameworks, we help leaders identify what’s worth amplifying, and what must be fixed before AI scales the wrong thing.

If your ambition is real, we’re ready to help you get there - deliberately, and with confidence.