Page 157 - Red Hat PR REPORT - OCTOBER 2025

10/13/25, 11:03 AM Red Hat Survey: UAE Organisations Prepare for Widespread AI Adoption and Upskilling - Middle East Business News and Inform…

To overcome these challenges and help turn ambitions to reality, UAE organisations are
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embracing open source across all areas of IT strategy. The survey shows that100% of UAE IT
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leaders view open source as vital for cost optimisation , post-quantum cryptography , and
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virtualisation .

AI a work in progress:

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One of the highest AI priority of respondents for the next 18 months (83% ) is agentic AI, AI
systems that operate with high degrees of autonomy and can execute complex, multi-step

tasks with limited human intervention. Enabling broad employee adoption and operationalising
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AI are also ranked high on the priority to-do list, with 86% and 85% agreeing respectively.

Retaining and developing the right talent remains a challenge, with AI skills still ranking among
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the most urgent gaps, as cited by 76% of respondents. Within AI specifically, the talent
shortage mirrors the target priorities for UAE IT and AI leaders: connecting AI to enterprise
data cited by 59% [1] of respondents, effective use of agentic AI cited by 57%, efficient use of

AI capabilities cited by 58%, and educating the business to use AI reported by 47%. Almost all
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(98% ) of respondents experience barriers to AIadoption, especially integration challenges
with existing systems (36%), data privacy and security concerns (32%), and lack of buy-in
from stakeholders (32%).

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Additionally, 70% of respondents report they are experiencing a “shadow AI” problem – i.e.,
unauthorised use of AI tools by employees.

Confidence tempered by complexity; open source key

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Confidence in the UAE’s potential on the global AI stage is high, with 99% of responding UAE
businesses believing the nation is, or will soon become, an AI powerhouse within the next
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three years . A similar sense of optimism exists in other countries: 99% of respondents in
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