Why the UAE is a model nation for technology adoption
The UAE has long led the world in the innovative application of technology and has never hesitated to adopt early and use it wisely, according to a top official at Microsoft Gulf.
“This attitude can be seen region-wide in our recent, which showed that over 60 per cent of enterprises are planning to adopt AI and AI-embedded use cases including predictive analytics, robotics and machine automation,” Necip Ozyucel, cloud and enterprise business solutions lead at Microsoft Gulf, told
Khaleej Times on the sidelines of Artelligence 2018. “We expect that trend to continue, particularly in growth industries such as retail, finance and manufacturing,” he added.
Ozyucel says that Microsoft — which is the event’s strategic AI partner — cited Majid Al Futtaim Ventures and Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts as among those using advanced business intelligence technologies. These, he says, help build richer views of their customers and create more personalised and effective marketing campaigns. “We are also seeing continuous adoption of AI in government services,” he added, giving the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s customer service chatbot, ‘Rammas’, as an example.
Ozyucel believes that the main challenge concerning AI today is the “understandable suspicion” people have of the very concept of machine intelligence.
“In practical terms, this is not so much about dystopian sci-fi scenarios of machines rising up, but more about the employment impact of AI,” he added.
While people are rightfully worried about jobs being affected, Microsoft, he says, believes that the Fourth Industrial Revolution will, like its predecessors, be a net creator of jobs.
Different scales and industries have different needs, he says, and the foundations of digital transformation have certain commonalities.
He said that industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, finance, retail and aviation are rapidly embracing AI technology.
“A general rule for the successful leverage of AI,” Ozyucel says, “is never let the bells and whistles of the technology blind you to who you are and what you do. Plan ahead.”