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UAE firms lead world in AI agent adoption but face control gap
New research shows businesses are spotting risky AI behaviour before it causes damage, yet most would struggle to contain a rogue agent quickly across their systems
- PUBLISHED: Tue 29 Sept 2026, 4:08 PM
UAE companies have emerged as some of the world’s most aggressive adopters of AI agents, with many already deploying the technology at a scale that exceeds global peers. But as organisations race ahead, a new study suggests their ability to control problematic agents has not kept pace.
Research commissioned by Dataiku and conducted by Harris Poll found that 62 per cent of UAE chief information officers estimate their organisations have more than 50 AI agents running in production. Fifteen per cent said they operate more than 500 agents, the highest proportion among the eight countries surveyed and significantly above the global average of 9 per cent.
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The findings point to a country that is moving rapidly from AI experimentation to large-scale deployment. Companies are also building specialist teams to support that growth. Among organisations creating or planning dedicated AI expert roles, 22 per cent of CIOs expect to hire more than 10 people in the next year, the highest figure among participating markets.
Despite the speed of adoption, the survey indicates that UAE organisations are performing relatively well at preventing AI incidents from causing real-world damage. Eighty per cent of CIOs said they had encountered an AI agent that acted in ways that violated business intent, policy or expectations while remaining technically functional. However, 62 per cent said the issue was detected before it could cause customer, financial, compliance or operational harm, the highest rate globally and well above the worldwide average of 48 per cent. Only 18 per cent reported incidents that resulted in actual impact, compared with a global figure of 31 per cent.
The challenge emerges after the problem has been identified.
Only 5 per cent of UAE CIOs said their organisations could reliably identify and contain a problematic AI agent across different environments within one to two hours. More than two-thirds said they would be unable to do so on the same day, while 45 per cent estimated containment would take between 24 and 48 hours.
According to Florian Douetteau, chief executive and co-founder of Dataiku, that distinction between detection and intervention is becoming increasingly important as AI systems spread across organisations.
“CIOs in the UAE are running agents at a scale few markets have reached, and they’re unusually good at catching bad behaviour before it does damage,” he said. “But detection and control are different capabilities, and the research shows a real gap between them. An agent you can spot in one system but can’t stop everywhere else isn’t contained — it’s just been noticed.”
Part of the problem may lie in visibility. Only 18 per cent of UAE CIOs reported having a fully unified view of AI agents operating across platforms and business applications, while just 12 per cent said agent lifecycle management had been standardised throughout their organisations. Without those controls, an agent identified in one environment could continue operating elsewhere before teams can intervene.
The pressure to address those weaknesses is growing. Every UAE CIO surveyed said board-level expectations for measurable AI returns had increased compared with 2025, while 93 per cent said their chief executive had signalled that job security depended on AI outcomes. Nine in 10 said they would be willing to stake their own jobs on delivering measurable AI results.
“The UAE has established a strong foundation for agentic AI, with enterprises deploying at scale, investing in specialist expertise, and preventing a high proportion of agent incidents from causing real-world harm,” said Sid Bhatia, Area Vice President and General Manager for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa at Dataiku. “The next stage is to connect those safeguards across the enterprise.”
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.