The UAE’s efforts to digitize services and scale up artificial intelligence are changing employment requirements, a study has found.
Stanford University data 2025 AI Index Report We are seeing job descriptions in the UAE increasingly include AI skills such as natural language processing, machine learning, and generative AI.
According to the report, in 2021, less than 1 percent of all job openings asked for AI experience, but three years later this number had increased to 1.7 percent, just 0.7 percentage points behind the United States and ahead of countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia.
ServiceNow and Pearson predict that this AI-driven transformation will require more workers.
Researchers claim that the UAE needs to add more than 1 million workers by 2030, with organizations needing an additional 91,000 technical professionals.
Initially, one of the most commonly advertised AI-related jobs was data scientist, but as the market evolved, this title subdivided into more specialized roles.
Michael Page’s UAE Salary Guide 2022 listed only three AI-related roles. By 2026, that number will increase to eight, marking the emergence of sector-specific needs such as product management and generative artificial intelligence.
According to the study, starting salaries for both general and professional positions are around 25,000 dirhams ($6,800), and 75,000 dirhams for senior positions.
With AI rapidly changing many aspects of life, Badr Jafar, UAE Special Envoy for Business and Philanthropy, says the world needs to work together on how AI is used.
Areas of cooperation may include policy, capital, social trust, social impact coordination, etc. Additionally, Jafar said the UAE aims for the responsible implementation of AI to support employment and inclusive growth.
