A survey revealed that more than half of UAE workers fear losing their jobs to artificial intelligence or robots in the next ten years.
A poll of approximately 1,000 people revealed that younger people are more concerned with how technology will impact their job prospects.
In collaboration with YouGov and communications advisors duke+mir, the study asked respondents how AI would affect their lives.
Fivety-five percent of respondents said that they were concerned about AI and robots taking over their jobs by 2033.
24% of respondents were uncertain, and 21% were not concerned about their jobs being replaced by technology.
Sixty percent of Emiratis are concerned about AI and robots replacing the roles they have, compared with 45 percent of western expatriates.
Jonathan Ivan-Duke (co-founder and partner at duke+mir) said, “With such an intense focus by the UAE government on Emirati jobs now and into the future, it is quite surprising to see the UAE youth and Emiratis being the most concerned about technological advancements in the future.”
“Emirates is one of the most innovative nations in the world when it comes to innovation. Residents and citizens are used to seeing new technologies unveiled within the Emirates. They want it to not replace them.
A survey showed that 66% of people aged 25 and under were worried about AI and robots taking over their jobs within the next decade. This compares to 57% of those between 25 and 44 and only 43% of those 45 and older.
Surveyors pointed out the possibility for both the public and private sectors to provide more education about the potential benefits of AI/robotics.
AI is used to bypass human intervention, not just the ChatGPT text generator bot.
Stocking AI creates posters and images in seconds. The runwayml.com website creates an AI-powered video from a simple idea.
The UAE government has ambitious plans to make the country a global AI hub.
Omar Al Olama was appointed UAE’s first Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence in 2017. The UAE also adopted the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031 to encourage the development of cutting-edge technology.
In Abu Dhabi, the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence was founded in 2019. Its purpose is to train top talent around the globe to lead the workplaces of tomorrow.
At the beginning of the year, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid (Vice President and Ruler of Dubai) announced the D33 Dubai Economic Agenda.
Its goal is to double Dubai’s economic output over the next decade. The key objective is to generate new economic value through digital transformation and a shift toward AI.
The plan is designed to maintain a growth rate of Dh100 billion per year.
Cities become smarter by using technology and become more efficient. They also generate large amounts of data that can be used to improve government services.
Human interaction remains crucial
While AI plays a crucial role in the way data from smart cities are used, human interaction will still play a vital role, according to Arif aljanahi, director of security engineering at the Security Industry Regulatory Agency (Dubai government).
“A key point people don’t consider about AI is it depends on what information is being fed to it,” stated Mr. Aljanahi during the Security Leaders Summit at the Intersec conference, in Dubai.
“Converting metadata is our biggest challenge.
The success of AI is dependent on the person who is teaching it. You can use AI in both a positive and negative way.
“We don’t know what the future holds for it.”
“It has opened up our eyes to a new challenge. But it will depend on the person who is teaching it to determine if it will become intelligent or stupid.
He said, “It’s like a child. If you give it the wrong information it will start on the wrong path.”
