Artificial intelligence market in MEA to hit $114mln by 2021

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The artificial intelligence market in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) is expected to reach $114 million (Dh418.38 million) by 2021 with industries looking at use cases around customer experience, fraud detection and sales advisory, said an analyst.

Megha Kumar, research director, IDC, said UAE has always been open to innovative technologies to enhance citizen, resident, tourist and business experience.

Commenting on the UAE residents' readiness to embrace AI in their lives, she said the UAE is at the forefront in terms of trying to experiment and better use of AI which will be integrated as a part of many interactions and communication in the country.

"Right now, AI is being used at early stages so wider adoption will be more successful with proper user experience from both a business-to-business and business-to-consumers engagement."

Highlighting the challenges, she said the biggest challenge organisaitons face is around skills and the need to streamline their business. The use of AI will help supplement skills for routine processes and make skills available for new workloads.

She pointed out that there is also a need to have a scalable infrastructure in place to use AI effectively.

Megha also addressed the Gitex Technology Week participants on Monday at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

IDC predicts AI to grow 33 per cent over the next 5 years, which is very aggressive rate of growth for this technology, she said, adding that "a lot of use case will be around customer experience, especially within the government, retail and utility and transportation sectors. You will see a lot of organisations trying to automate services, give preferential experience for their customers and ensure they're far more engaging with their customer base."

- waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com