Factors influencing Artificial Intelligence adoption in the GCC

This study takes a deeper look into the adoption and integration of AI into the financial sector of the GCC. It focused on unique socio-cultural aspects as well as regulatory and trust dynamics that might influence the adoption of AI technology. Currently industries worldwide are observing changes due to technological advancements that are transforming the way things have been operated for decades using the help of AI(Davenport & Ronanki, 2018, Cockburn, Henderson & Stern, 2018), the GCC’s financial sector is considered a critical but not yet explored aspect when it comes to understanding how these technologies can be implemented and what the outcome of that would be. This research paper addresses the gap by comparing the GCC’s adoption to other countries particularly western countries, where they have different legal and cultural context and are more regulated (McKinsey & Company, 2020). This study took a mixed method approach which used survey to gather quantitative data and analyzed governmental policies and regulatory frameworks from GCC countries. The survey results showed consumer concerns being data privacy 48% and algorithm decision making 42%. The results also showed that 64% of respondents preferred human interactions when it came to financial advisory and 15% preferred robo-advisors due to their affordability and efficient. There was obvious generational divide where we saw that younger generations were more open to AI driven softwares. The qualitative data analysis of policies from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain shows major efforts on improving ethical practices and accountability with initiatives like SDAIA and UAE’s AI ethical guidelines which addresses consumer concerns. This study bridges the gap of trust and aligning AI with cultural expectations and bettering frameworks that could leave to the mass adoption of AI in the financial industry in the GCC.