{"id":139055,"date":"2026-08-12T15:18:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/?p=139055"},"modified":"2026-09-07T04:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T03:23:11","slug":"middle-east-leads-global-ai-adoption-autodesk-research-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/2026\/08\/12\/middle-east-leads-global-ai-adoption-autodesk-research-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle East leads global AI adoption, Autodesk research finds"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Autodesk has released new regional findings from its 2026<\/em> State of Design & Make: AI Pulse<\/em> report, revealing that organisations in the Middle East are leading the world in translating AI investment into measurable business outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research found that 87% of organisations across the region feel an urgent need to adopt AI, the highest level recorded globally and well ahead of the global average of 68%. Meanwhile, 92% reported positive productivity gains from AI deployment, compared with 84% globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organisations in the Middle East also reported stronger AI-driven productivity and innovation outcomes than their global counterparts. Some 90% said AI was having a positive impact on innovation, significantly higher than the global average of 77%, while 78% reported improvements in decision-making compared with 65% globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings suggest that organisations across the architecture, engineering, construction, operations, design, manufacturing, and media and entertainment sectors are increasingly embedding AI into core business processes. They are moving beyond experimentation towards broader operational adoption and measurable business value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The use of AI assistants and chatbots increased year on year from 46% to 56%, while the adoption of AI-enabled design software rose to 57%. AI usage within project management platforms also increased from 41% to 49%, reflecting growing adoption across project delivery and business operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings align with broader regional transformation agendas, including Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, the UAE National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031, and ongoing investments in smart infrastructure, industrial digitalisation and next-generation urban development across the GCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research indicates that organisations are increasingly viewing AI through the lens of productivity, resilience and delivery performance, particularly as industries across the region continue to manage large-scale infrastructure programmes and increasingly complex project environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly half (49%) of respondents said their organisation had significantly or substantially increased AI investment over the past year, compared with the global average of 40%. Generative AI, process automation and decision support systems emerged as the leading investment priorities for the next 12 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interest in more advanced forms of AI is also growing. More than half (56%) of respondents said they expect to use agentic AI within the next year, while 18% reported that they are already using it today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research suggests organisations are strengthening the foundations required to scale AI effectively. Compared with global averages, respondents from the Middle East reported higher levels of confidence in the structure and security of their data, with 91% saying their data is well structured and 90% stating that it is secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite strong momentum, organisations remain pragmatic about implementation challenges and long-term scalability. Respondents identified a lack of talent and skills (59%), implementation costs (55%), and integration with existing systems (54%) as the leading barriers facing organisations today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research also indicates that concerns surrounding AI are evolving. While concerns about job displacement have declined year on year, organisations are placing greater emphasis on practical enterprise risks, including security, accuracy and governance. Security concerns rose to 54%, while concerns over AI accuracy increased significantly from 33% to 48%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even amid broader market uncertainty, many organisations remain focused on growth. The report found that 85% of respondents in the Middle East are considering entering new markets, compared with the global average of 73%, suggesting that businesses continue to view technology investment as closely linked to long-term competitiveness, resilience and operational agility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Middle East is moving faster than most markets from AI ambition to AI impact. But the real test is not how quickly organisations adopt AI. It is whether they can use it to deliver better projects, better decisions, and better-performing assets,” said Naji Atallah, Head of Construction and Manufacturing, EMEA Emerging at Autodesk. “AI will only create value if it is built on trusted data, connected workflows, and the discipline to reduce rework across the full project lifecycle. That is where construction and manufacturing leaders have an opportunity to turn investment into real delivery advantage.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Autodesk has released new regional findings from its 2026 State of Design & Make: AI Pulse report, revealing that organisations in the Middle East are leading the world in translating AI investment into measurable business outcomes. The research found that 87% of organisations across the region feel an urgent need to adopt AI, the highest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7289,"featured_media":121535,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[809,78,79],"tags":[3211,671],"class_list":["post-139055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-more-news","category-regional-news-newsletter","category-used","tag-ai","tag-autodesk"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7289"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139055"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139149,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139055\/revisions\/139149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}