Researchers at Mohamed Bin Zayed University University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) have developed an AI system that helps small and medium-sized businesses solve the shortage of data scientists by giving them the analytical skills they need without hiring expensive experts.
Data Wise is an autonomous AI platform that transforms RAW business data into actionable recommendations within minutes, and could save UAE companies thousands of dollars in consulting fees, according to Farkhad Akimov, a master's degree graduate in machine learning. Zangir Iklassov, assistant professor of machine learning. Research Engineer Munazizo Nwadique.
Launching addresses important business challenges. While demand for data scientists and analysts is growing rapidly in the UAE as companies aim to use data to improve their businesses, most small businesses can't usually afford a full-time professional who commands a premium payroll.
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According to a report from Cooper Fitch, Data Science ranks among the top 10 skills shortages in the UAE. While 74% of UAE small and medium-sized businesses are confident in their business growth, most do not have analytical tools to support their scaling decisions.
“Even though organizations today are owned by data, we wanted to create a system that allows us to act without waiting for our technical team,” said Munachiso Nwadike, research engineer and co-creator at Data Wise. “Datawise helps not only data scientists, but also those who test hypotheses, discover patterns and make decisions,” he pointed out.
How does it work?
The platform allows users to upload business data such as purchase history and customer surveys, specify goals, and receive plain language insights backed by sophisticated analytics. Unlike existing tools that require technical expertise, Data Wise automatically manages the entire analytical process.
“It's basically about replicating how data scientists work in real life,” explained Akimov, the startup's main founder. “Data scientists are often given a pile of numbers, text or images, asking them to understand what is going on and what to do next, and our platform reflects that process.
“The system uses multiple AI agents that operate in parallel to generate hypotheses about business patterns, test accuracy, and express only the most reliable insights. This approach eliminates the weeks that are usually needed for traditional data analysis projects,” he said.
Better solutions built by excellent experts
To prove its effectiveness, the team wisely tested its data against top-ranked experts at Kaggle, one of the world's leading data science competition platforms. Beyond datasets covering customer behavior, health risks and pricing strategies, AI systems outperform expert-built solutions.
“The key limitation of most platforms – even on great platforms like Tableau, they're about automating workflows for data scientists rather than decision makers,” says Professor and co-creator Iklassov. “We built data wisely so not only technical experts, but business owners can reach the 'why' behind the data. ”
The breakthrough is expected to reach $256.6 billion by 2029, with the US facing more than 250,000 data scientists with demand forecasting to exceed supply by 50% by 2026.
For UAE companies, this is a savings opportunity. Hiring a data scientist costs more than DH300,000 per year, but Datawise could potentially provide similar analytics capabilities for just a small portion of its investment.
The platform is especially valuable for the retail, healthcare and manufacturing sectors. Business owners can now identify customer churn, inventory optimization, or cost savings without a technical team.
“We envision the unlock value for each data for decision makers in all industries, including predicting patient readmissions in hospitals, optimizing marketing budgets, and reducing manufacturing inventory costs,” Akimov said.
The system is currently living as a practical demonstration of Amazon Web Services. The team is developing the next version with plans for commercial deployment through Mbzuai's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre.
“We believe that data science is moving from a static dashboard to a dynamic conversation,” says Nwadike. “Business leaders can interact directly with the data and trust the answers they receive.”
