{"slug": "uae-emerges-as-advanced-ai-developer-as-global-race-narrows-world-bank-says", "title": "UAE emerges as advanced AI developer as global race narrows, World Bank says", "summary": "The World Bank's World Development Report 2026: The Promise of Artificial Intelligence identifies the UAE as one of the few countries developing its own advanced foundation models, placing it in the 'advance' stage of AI development alongside the US and China. The report notes that fewer than 10% of jobs in developing economies could be automated by AI, compared with more than one-third in wealthier countries, and cites examples such as AI-assisted medical imaging increasing diabetes screening by 40% in Bangladesh and AI weather forecasts saving Indian farmers up to $560 each.", "body_md": "The UAE is one of the few countries developing its own advanced foundation models, an ambitious step beyond simply adopting existing AI systems, the World Bank said.\n\nIn its World Development Report 2026: The Promise of Artificial Intelligence, the World Bank said the most advanced parts of the AI economy remain heavily concentrated, with only a limited number of countries able to build cutting-edge models, data centers and hardware at scale.\n\nThe United States and China continue to dominate much of the global AI landscape, while the UAE stands out among a smaller group attempting to develop greater domestic capability.\n\n**UAE moves further up the AI value chain**\n\nThe UAE’s position places it closer to what the World Bank describes as the “advance” stage of AI development.\n\nThe report divides national strategies into three broad pathways: adopting existing AI, adapting systems to local needs and advancing the technology itself.\n\nFor most developing economies, the World Bank argues that adoption and adaptation offer the fastest and most affordable gains, while building sophisticated foundation models from scratch demands substantially more capital, infrastructure and specialist talent.\n\nThat ambition comes with a steep price, with the World Bank saying projected capital spending by major AI hyperscalers now exceeds the annual economic output of many countries, underscoring how costly it has become to compete at the technological frontier.\n\n**Deployment emerges as another pillar of AI growth**\n\n**Deployment emerges as another pillar of AI growth**\n\nWhile the race to build advanced models is intensifying, the report says the broader economic gains from AI will also depend on how widely countries apply the technology across businesses, public services and everyday economic activity.\n\nThe report estimates that fewer than 10 percent of jobs in developing economies could be automated by AI, compared with more than one-third in wealthier countries, while about one in six jobs in developing economies could instead benefit from AI assisting workers rather than replacing them.\n\nAdoption is already gathering pace, with about one in five small firms surveyed across six developing economies using AI chatbots, a rate only modestly below that of the United States.\n\nThe World Bank also cited early evidence of practical gains, with AI-assisted medical imaging increasing daily screening for diabetes-related eye disease by 40 percent in Bangladesh and AI weather forecasts saving small farmers in India’s Telangana state as much as $560 each.\n\nIn Ghana, an AI tutoring system delivered learning gains equivalent to nearly a year of mathematics instruction for about $5 per student.\n\n**AI gains will hinge on both capability and deployment**\n\nThe report’s broader message is that countries can capture the biggest gains by combining strong domestic AI capabilities with wide adoption across businesses, public services and strategic industries, supported by investment in skills, infrastructure, data and governance.\n\nFor the UAE, [developing its own foundation models](https://thecoinheadlines.com/tech-and-ai/bcgs-inaugural-intelligent-cities-index-dubai-ranks-second-globally/article-28477/) alongside wider AI adoption strengthens its position as global competition for models, computing power and specialist talent intensifies.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/uae-emerges-as-advanced-ai-developer-as-global-race-narrows-world-bank-says", "canonical_source": "https://thecoinheadlines.com/tech-and-ai/uae-emerges-as-advanced-ai-developer-as-global-race-narrows-world-bank-says/article-28701/", "published_at": "2026-08-08 11:00:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-09 12:42:38.458791+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-policy", "ai-research"], "entities": ["World Bank", "UAE", "United States", "China", "Bangladesh", "India", "Telangana", "Ghana"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/uae-emerges-as-advanced-ai-developer-as-global-race-narrows-world-bank-says", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/uae-emerges-as-advanced-ai-developer-as-global-race-narrows-world-bank-says.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/uae-emerges-as-advanced-ai-developer-as-global-race-narrows-world-bank-says.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/uae-emerges-as-advanced-ai-developer-as-global-race-narrows-world-bank-says.jsonld"}}