The United Arab Emirates has retained its position as the world’s leading country for artificial intelligence adoption, with 73.3% of its working-age population now using generative AI tools, according to the latest data from the Microsoft AI Economy Institute.
The figure comes from Microsoft’s Global AI Diffusion Report for the second quarter of 2026 and places the UAE well ahead of other high-adoption markets. Singapore remains second at 64.3%, while Ireland reached 49.9% and France followed at 49.6%.
The numbers show that AI adoption in the UAE is no longer limited to early experimentation. Generative AI tools are becoming increasingly embedded in everyday work, government activity and digital services.
UAE AI adoption rises to 73.3%
The UAE’s 73.3% AI diffusion rate marks another increase from the 70.1% recorded in the first quarter of 2026. Earlier Microsoft data had already made the Emirates the first economy to cross the 70% threshold in its AI adoption rankings.
The rise has been steady. UAE adoption stood at 59.4% in the first half of 2025 before increasing to around 64% later that year. By early 2026, it had reached 70.1%, followed by the latest 73.3% reading.
The trend suggests that AI use is still expanding rather than flattening out. More people are incorporating generative AI into work, research, communication and daily digital tasks, giving the UAE one of the deepest levels of AI penetration measured globally.
Singapore remains the UAE’s closest challenger
Singapore continues to rank second globally, with 64.3% of its working-age population using generative AI. Ireland followed at 49.9%, with France close behind at 49.6%.
The gap between the UAE and Singapore now stands at around nine percentage points. That difference has widened compared with earlier periods when the two countries were much closer in Microsoft’s rankings.
Both markets have strong digital infrastructure and highly connected populations, but the UAE’s faster recent growth has allowed it to extend its lead.
Saudi Arabia climbs in the global AI rankings
Saudi Arabia also recorded a notable improvement in the latest data, moving from 30th to 25th globally as generative AI adoption reached 31.4% of the working-age population.
The increase was one of the strongest ranking improvements among Middle Eastern economies covered by the report. Qatar remained higher at 43.5%, while Israel was reported at 38.7%.
The broader regional picture suggests AI adoption is spreading more widely across the Middle East. The UAE remains far ahead, but the growth in Saudi Arabia and Qatar shows that generative AI is moving beyond isolated enterprise pilots and becoming more widely used across businesses, public services and professional environments.
Global generative AI use reaches 18.8%
Worldwide generative AI adoption reached 18.8% of the working-age population by June 2026, continuing the upward trend seen throughout the previous year.
Global usage had stood at 17.8% in the first quarter of 2026, meaning adoption increased by around one percentage point during the latest quarter. Microsoft also reported that 31 of the 147 economies covered in the study now have generative AI adoption rates above 30%.
The numbers underline how quickly AI tools are spreading, but they also show that adoption remains uneven. While some countries have integrated generative AI into everyday professional and personal use, many others are still limited by digital infrastructure, connectivity and skills gaps.
The AI adoption divide remains significant
Microsoft’s data shows a continued gap between AI use in the Global North and Global South. Adoption across the Global North stood at 28.8%, compared with 16.2% in the Global South.
The difference has widened slightly, reflecting persistent disparities in internet access, electricity reliability, computing infrastructure and digital skills. These factors continue to shape how quickly people can access and benefit from generative AI tools.
That divide also highlights why adoption rates alone cannot be separated from broader economic and infrastructure conditions. Countries with stronger digital ecosystems generally have a much easier path toward large-scale AI use.
South Korea posts the fastest quarterly growth
South Korea recorded the biggest quarterly increase in AI adoption, adding 3.5 percentage points during the period covered by the report.
The country has now posted the largest quarterly increase for three consecutive quarters. Over the previous 12 months, South Korea added almost 15 percentage points to its share of generative AI users.
The pace shows how quickly national rankings can shift. AI diffusion is still moving fast enough that countries investing in digital skills, infrastructure and practical applications can make substantial gains within a relatively short period.
Years of UAE AI policy are translating into wider use
The UAE’s position at the top of the rankings follows years of government-backed investment in artificial intelligence and digital transformation.
The country appointed a Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence in 2017, years before generative AI became a mainstream technology. Since then, artificial intelligence has been increasingly integrated into government planning, public services and national digital strategies.
The UAE has also pushed further into agentic AI. In 2026, the federal government announced plans to deploy agentic AI across 50% of government sectors, services and operations within two years.
Those measures do not fully explain the country’s 73.3% adoption rate, but they form part of a wider environment where AI is being introduced across business, government and everyday digital services.
AI production and AI adoption are becoming separate races
One of the more striking parts of Microsoft’s rankings is that countries building the most advanced AI models are not necessarily the same countries recording the highest adoption rates.
The United States remains home to many of the world’s largest AI developers and technology companies, but its share of working-age people using generative AI has remained below the UAE’s level.
That creates a clear distinction between developing AI technology and spreading it across a population. Building frontier models, data centres and semiconductor infrastructure is one part of the global AI competition. Making those tools widely accessible and routinely used is another.
For the UAE, the latest figures suggest the second part is where it currently holds the strongest position.
As adoption moves above 70%, the next question may be less about how many people are using AI and more about how much productivity, innovation and economic value that usage is actually creating.
Sources
Middle East AI News
https://www.middleeastainews.com/p/uae-retains-top-world-ai-use-ranking
Microsoft AI Economy Institute
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/group/ai-for-good-research-lab/ai-economy-institute/
Emirates News Agency
https://www.wam.ae/en/article/c03y6ol-microsoft-uae-ranks-first-globally-adoption
