More than three out of four IT leaders surveyed in the UAE (77%) say their existing IT infrastructure is prepared for the demands of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, as the country experiences widespread adoption across industries, according to the Equinix 2023 Global Tech Trends Survey.

The UAE scored higher than other countries in preparedness to accommodate AI, with only 58% of global and 51% of EMEA IT leaders believing their infrastructure is prepared for AI.

The survey, which examined IT leaders’ responses to AI advances in their organizations, comes after a year of significant AI breakthroughs that saw the technology rapidly deployed in applications across both the business-to-business and business-to-consumer sectors.

“Tech leaders globally are expediting AI’s integration into their organizations, and it is increasingly becoming a critical capability to enable intelligent and autonomous systems that power a modern business. Those who fail to maximize its use could fall behind,”

said Kaladhar Voruganti, Senior Technologist at Equinix.

Equinix’s global survey of 2,900 IT decision-makers confirmed AI uptake is on the rise across all industry sectors, with 85% of respondents worldwide seeking to benefit from the advantages of AI and already using or planning to use it across multiple key functions. In the UAE, organizations are most likely to be using AI, or planning to do so, in IT operations (97%), followed by cybersecurity (95%), and sales (95%).

IT leaders in EMEA had the most uncertainty about the ability of their infrastructure to accommodate the needs of AI (49%), compared to leaders in Asia-Pacific (44%) and the Americas (32%).

In addition to digital infrastructure updates, the survey also highlighted the need for education and collaboration to enable IT teams to optimize the deployment of this infrastructure, with AI and machine learning expertise being sought by 52% of those growing their IT teams.

Featured image credit: Edited from freepik.