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Enterprises in the GCC widen adoption of Generative AI
Moving from pilot projects to production-grade deployments can be a challenge
- PUBLISHED: Thu 1 May 2025, 5:21 PM
Enterprises in the GCC evolving in their adoption of Generative AI, from exploration to execution. Governments and enterprises are no longer asking if they should adopt AI, but how quickly and effectively they can embed it into their operations.
However, while ambition is high, scaling execution remains a significant hurdle. “The gaps often emerge around performance, latency, and compliance, areas where traditional cloud infrastructure falls short. Also, inferencing—delivering real-time, relevant outputs at scale places immense demands on systems that need to be fast, secure, and cost-efficient,” Raghu Chakravarthi, EVP of engineering and general manager Americas, Core42, told Khaleej Times in an interview.
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This is where many enterprises find themselves stuck: moving from pilot projects to production-grade deployments that can reliably deliver business outcomes. “At Core42, we recognised this critical gap and developed Compass, our flagship solution for enterprise-grade GenAI. Compass simplifies complexity by unifying access to diverse models, orchestrating them seamlessly, and enabling scalable, secure, low-latency inferencing. It empowers organisations to move beyond experimentation and operationalise GenAI with the speed, flexibility, and trust needed to drive real-world impact,” Chakravarthi said.
Compass API is designed to make GenAI enterprise-ready – secure, scalable, and seamless. Instead of building bespoke integrations for each model or vendor, Compass offers unified access to a curated set of high-performing models through a single API. Whether it’s GPT-4o for complex use cases or lighter models for everyday queries, Compass allows organisations to select, chain, and deploy models based on the specific needs of their applications.
Core42 is seeing strong traction for Compass API across public services, finance, real estate, and telecom. These industries generate large volumes of unstructured data and require real-time insights.
Chakravarthi stressed that the UAE stands out as one of the few countries where vision, infrastructure, and regulatory clarity are advancing in lockstep. “While many global markets grapple with legacy systems and fragmented policies, the UAE’s agility enables rapid AI integration across sovereign cloud infrastructure, digital identity frameworks, and public services,” he added.
Today, the UAE ranks #1 in MENA and among the top 15 globally in Oxford Insights’ 2024 Government AI Readiness Index, a clear testament to the momentum it has built. This ambition is evident in bold initiatives like the Falcon family of open-source large language models developed by the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), and the UAE’s plans to systematically use AI for drafting and reviewing legislation. “Additionally, the recent multi-year agreement between the Department of Government Enablement – Abu Dhabi, Microsoft, and Core42 to build a sovereign cloud platform is another landmark step. This partnership will support over 11 million daily digital interactions across Abu Dhabi’s government services, reinforcing the emirate’s vision of becoming the world’s first fully AI-native government by 2027,” Chakravarthi said.
In many ways, the UAE is leapfrogging traditional models, laying the foundation not just for regional leadership in AI, but for global influence. “It is this unique combination of vision, velocity, and regulatory foresight that makes the UAE one of the most compelling and future-ready AI ecosystems in the world today,” Chakravarthi said.
In enterprise AI deployment, we are entering the era of production-scale GenAI, where the focus is rapidly shifting from model training to inferencing, delivering low-latency, high-throughput, real-time results that enterprises can operationalise at scale. Organisations are demanding reliability, governance, scalability, and return on investment as they embed GenAI into their operations.
Inferencing is at the heart of this transformation. It’s a complex process that involves querying foundational models and delivering enterprise-relevant outputs in milliseconds, all while managing thousands of simultaneous users. The key metrics defining success include throughput, resiliency, and latency, which must be optimised to ensure seamless user experiences. “This is precisely where Compass’ ability to handle the complexity of large-scale inferencing becomes paramount . It offers diverse silicon support, including NVIDIA, AMD, Cerebras, and Qualcomm, to match the right hardware to specific workloads, balancing cost, performance, and efficiency,” Chakravarthi said.
Enterprise leaders must avoid deploying GenAI for the sake of novelty or trend-following, Chakravarthi said. “They should shift their mindset — from seeing GenAI as just another tool or feature to recognising it as foundational infrastructure critical to long-term success. Thoughtful deployment is essential for building operational resilience, unlocking new revenue streams, driving workforce productivity, and enhancing customer engagement at scale,” he added.
Deployed effectively, GenAI can empower organisations to strike the essential balance between immediate operational efficiency and long-term transformation. It can automate workflows based on real-time data, strengthen business resilience against external shocks, and accelerate digital maturity, all while delivering hyper-personalised experiences that modern consumers expect. Studies already show that enterprises adopting GenAI are seeing measurable gains in employee productivity, customer loyalty, and revenue growth.
However, as with all technologies, success with GenAI depends on purposeful deployment. Enterprises must integrate AI in ways that create meaningful business outcomes and not deploy GenAI simply to check a box. “The window for early-mover advantage is real, and organisations that embed GenAI with intention today are the ones that will define their industries tomorrow,” Chakravarthi said.
Associate Editor Somshankar Bandyopadhyay brings more than three decades of experience to the KT newsroom. Currently, he manages the news production of the business section, ensuring that the top economic and business news of the day reaches its readers.