If you want to be an AI leader, don't iterate; innovate

Khaleej Times

16-04-2025

The UAE can stake a claim as a key player in the global technology saga — a known early adopter and committed incubator of tech startups. Now that artificial intelligence has reached the pinnacle of maturity, we have entered not so much a new chapter of the story but a new story. A range of market projections rank the UAE as one of the top regional beneficiaries of AI, in terms of economic value-add. Business stakeholders across the country must now strategize on how they are to take their share of that value. AI allows them to rethink their relationships with employees and customers and to redesign operations to align with an evolving market.
The UAE's economy continues to flourish. Energy, construction, petrochemicals, healthcare, manufacturing, finance, tourism, aviation, retail, and more have shown resilience during global economic shocks and now show signs of strong recovery. Each of these sectors can benefit from AI, especially as they reexamine their positions on risk management in the age of ESG. Disruption is all around us, and AI can level the playing field. Enterprise-grade capabilities are now within reach of the UAE's startups and SMEs whose activities have, in the past, contributed more than 60% of non-oil GDP. Startup retailers, for example, can offer the same personalized recommendations as Amazon.ae.
We are witnessing the democratization of innovation. Individualization of service (a must if a business is to satisfy digital-native consumers) has become scalable because of AI, which can make connections in real time between transaction histories and customer profiles to produce actionable insights. This allows the enterprise to empower its employees and delight its customers. Streaming services, for instance, can not only steer watchers to optimum content; they can gather data that helps them curate — and in the case of larger players like Prime and Netflix, create — future content.
No displacement, just augmentation
The employee experience benefits just as much as the customer experience does. Humdrum tasks like data entry and inventory management are handled by machine intelligence, allowing humans to do what humans do best — plan, solve, and create. Nothing destroys team morale like downsizing. Pragmatic business leaders understand that human customers frequently call for human help, so the ideal strategy is to challenge teams in ways that make them feel valued rather than expendable. Employee satisfaction means customer satisfaction, which yields brand loyalty, ambassadorship, and market longevity.
ServiceNow's Chairman and CEO, Bill McDermott, recently said, 'AI is the biggest opportunity of our lifetime,' and that 'AI second-movers and deniers are set to lose immensely.' All the UAE's growth industries are successful because of competition rather than in spite of it. Generative AI — another growth segment that is set to take the country by storm — allows enterprises to run simulations of their innovations at unprecedented scale and speed. Organizations that do not invest in AI would be hard-pressed to keep pace with their AI-embracing competitors.
It is important, however, to distinguish between iteration (like automation, which merely improves on a process that already exists) and innovation. AI innovation is augmentation, where humans and machines collaborate to create new net value. It has been more than 40 years since Steve Jobs predicted the permeation of personal computers, but even as he sketched a future of PCs in every home and office, he predicted initial false steps. He compared personal computing to TV, noting that early broadcasts repurposed radio content and that it took time for creators to grasp the full potential of the new medium.
Go your own way
We would be wise to see AI in a similar light. Automation is like the repurposing of radio scripts for television. Having gone through the pain of digital transformation, we are choosing to preserve the fruits of our investments, automating yesterday's workloads rather than appreciating the potential of AI to reimagine what we do. AI remains the domain of cost-center mechanics who chase incremental boosts to efficiency at the expense of opportunities for exponential boosts to value. Innovation requires curiosity and a willingness to do things differently, which is precisely how the rise of agentic AI can help. Imagine virtual employees, learning and adapting without any supervision from humans. They are orchestrators of complex systems, and each collaborates with others to optimize processes and make strategic calls in real time.
Agentic AI changes the game in every industry in almost every way. AI agents can manage supply chains, optimize customer journeys, and spark innovation by delving deep and trawling wide in complex data spaces that no human could manually navigate. AI agents will, of course, begin their story in workflow automation, like written-for-radio scripts on TV. But in time, once decision makers become confident in their use, these agents will be deployed to more complex areas, to mine for insights, or to teach managers.
To call AI 'inevitable' is like saying the Internet has great potential. AI is already here. It lives in our phones, provides us with customer service, advises our governments, protects us from fraudsters, and more. The only variable left is how much of the AI value-pie will be taken by each UAE business. The stage is set for an AI arms race, the winners of which will be those who invest early and show others how their industry will operate in the new age of AI. Automation alone will not win the race. And innovation requires that we lean into the AI headwind with curiosity and courage.
On safari
The UAE is home to many competitive markets. They have endured through a series of economic challenges and their remaining players know what is required to survive and thrive. They know how to turn challenges into opportunities. So don't just react to the rise of AI. Plan your safari into unknown regions. Iterate, then innovate. Rewrite the rules and lead. Delight customers, empower employees, and grow your business.