AI To Boost Middle East’s GDP by 11% by 2030

According to a recent report by PwC, decision makers in the Middle East are looking to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) in their business. Almost 91% of the leading Middle Eastern CEOs interviewed by PwC would adopt AI in conducting business. Additionally, PwC research forecast that AI would contribute around $320 billion, or 11% of gross domestic product (GDP) to the Middle East’s economy by 2030.

On highlighting the positive impact of AI, the world’s second largest professional services firm said that AI would help to cut project management cost, improve efficiency, and provide decision-making support through active assistance that would provide managers with project status updates. “AI will certainly change the future of project management and how projects are delivered. In the middle of this evolution, however, it is important to remember that as much as AI takes over traditional management functions, AI cannot have human-like skills such as ideation, people-management, empathy, emotional intelligence, and problem-solving,” says Riyadh al Najjar, Saudi Arabian country leader and transformation management business unit leader in the Middle East.

Additionally, AI will also conduct actions on behalf of project managers, based on past experience and behaviours as well as predict imminent risks and suggest solutions.  “AI can transform project management by amplifying benefits from other technological factors such as analytics, Internet of Things (IoT) services, Robotics Process Automation (RPA), blockchain and eventually, quantum computing,” explains Faisal Al Sarraj, Saudi Arabian transformation management partner.

AI is likely to affect the displacement of jobs in several sectors in the Middle East. PwC estimated a relatively low displacement of jobs at %3, which could increase to 30% by the mid-2030.