World Bank Ranks UAE Among Global AI Leaders in Landmark 2026 Report
DUBAI — The World Bank has identified the United Arab Emirates as one of the world's leading emerging powers in artificial intelligence. In its World Development Report 2026, titled "The Promise of Artificial Intelligence," the international financial institution cited the Kingdom's sustained capital investments, progressive institutional frameworks, and growing capacity to develop advanced AI models while attracting top global technical talent.
The report highlighted that the UAE belongs to an exclusive group of nations successfully building advanced foundational AI models from scratch. Special recognition was given to the Falcon family of large language models developed by Abu Dhabi's Technology Innovation Institute (TII). The World Bank described TII as a global pioneer in open-source and open-weight AI architectures accessible to researchers worldwide.
In addition to foundational model engineering, the UAE achieved top global rankings for AI talent attraction. According to data cited from the 2026 AI Index, the country recorded one of the highest net inflows of AI professionals per 10,000 LinkedIn members in 2025, alongside Luxembourg, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Switzerland. Furthermore, the UAE ranked first globally for positive net inflows of leading AI authors and inventors with a score of 2.58—a dramatic shift from historical baseline averages recorded between 2011 and 2024. The report credited this talent influx to long-term residency incentives tailored for machine learning researchers and AI engineers.
The World Bank also ranked the UAE among the world's top 10 countries for ChatGPT adoption relative to total internet users, signaling rapid generative AI integration across enterprise and consumer segments. The report praised the UAE's national skills framework, the appointment of Chief AI Officers across federal entities, and the establishment of a unified federal authority for AI, data, and digital government, offering a model for nations seeking to adapt AI to local linguistic and economic needs.
