AI OBSERVATORY / INDEX

Watching AI around the world.

The AI Observatory is an independent research institute that watches, measures and investigates AI’s benefits, failures and consequences. We observe published facts only: official instruments, registered policy actions, listed compute systems and published adoption statistics. No value is estimated, imputed or modelled.

AIO Watch · AIO-W2026-4

Coverage: the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman. Method: AIO-M01, v1.1. Values are published facts only; n/a means no source is logged yet. No composite score or ranking is given.

Indicator A: National AI strategy and governance instruments

A1: national AI strategy or instrument published (1 = present).

Country	A1	Source
UAE	1	UAE Cabinet adoption notice, 21 Apr 2019 (archived copy)
Qatar	1	Qatar MCIT, National Artificial Intelligence Strategy for Qatar, 2019
Bahrain	n/a	none logged
Kuwait	n/a	none logged
Oman	1	Oman MTCIT, Oman AI & Digital Future Program (2024–2026)

n/a

A2 to A6, all five countries: no source logged yet

n/a

score_A, all five countries: not computed; A2 to A6 have no logged source

Indicator B: AI policy and regulatory actions

n/a

count_B, all five countries: n/a, no source logged yet

Indicator C: Public compute footprint

C1: systems on the TOP500 list, June 2026.

Country	C1	Source
UAE	5	TOP500, June 2026 list (accessed 23 Oct 2026)
Qatar	0	TOP500, June 2026 list (accessed 23 Oct 2026)
Bahrain	0	TOP500, June 2026 list (accessed 23 Oct 2026)
Kuwait	0	TOP500, June 2026 list (accessed 23 Oct 2026)
Oman	0	TOP500, June 2026 list (accessed 23 Oct 2026)

n/a

C2 (Epoch AI GPU clusters), all five countries: dataset not read; no figure used

Indicator D: Digital adoption base

D1: individuals using the internet, % of population.

Country	D1	Source
UAE	100	World Bank (ITU data), IT.NET.USER.ZS, 2024 (accessed 23 Oct 2026)
Qatar	98.1	World Bank (ITU data), IT.NET.USER.ZS, 2024 (accessed 23 Oct 2026)
Bahrain	100	World Bank (ITU data), IT.NET.USER.ZS, 2024 (accessed 23 Oct 2026)
Kuwait	100	World Bank (ITU data), IT.NET.USER.ZS, 2025 (accessed 23 Oct 2026)
Oman	95.3	World Bank (ITU data), IT.NET.USER.ZS, 2024 (accessed 23 Oct 2026)

Latest Signal · AIO-S0003

National AI instruments in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, 2017 to 2024

We observe published national AI strategy or policy instruments in three of five states, from the UAE in 2017 to Oman in 2024.

Open Signal (PDF)

AIO Watch method note

AIO-M01, v1.1

Four indicators, A to D, defined from public, free sources only.

Read the method note

Latest Signals

ID	TITLE	AREA	LENGTH
AIO-S0001	Five systems, all in the UAE: the June 2026 TOP500 list for the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman AIO Signals 01 · AIO Research Team · 23 Oct 2026. We observe five UAE supercomputers on the latest TOP500 list, and none from Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait or Oman.	AI compute capacity	2 pp	PDF
AIO-S0002	Near the ceiling: internet use in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, 2015 to 2024/25 AIO Signals 02 · AIO Research Team · 23 Oct 2026. We observe three of five states at 100% internet use; Oman, the lowest at 95.3%, gained 21.7 points since 2015.	Digital adoption	2 pp	PDF
AIO-S0003	National AI instruments in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, 2017 to 2024 AIO Signals 03 · AIO Research Team · 23 Oct 2026. We observe published national AI strategy or policy instruments in three of five states, from the UAE in 2017 to Oman in 2024.	AI policy instruments	2 pp	PDF