Abu Dhabi-based startup accelerator startAD has launched the UAE's first AI Adoption Barometer, providing organisations with a practical benchmark for adopting artificial intelligence across the healthcare and social impact sectors.

Developed through startAD's AI for Good initiative with support from Google.org, the report draws on insights from 52 organisations to assess how AI is being adopted in practice, while identifying the key challenges slowing implementation.

Healthcare Leads AI Adoption

The findings show that healthcare organisations are making significant progress in AI adoption. According to the report, 81% of respondents have already identified AI use cases, while 58% are actively piloting or deploying AI solutions.

Despite this momentum, nearly half of the organisations surveyed said they do not have a dedicated AI budget, highlighting the gap between growing interest in AI and the resources required to implement it at scale.

The report also found that many organisations are still working to establish governance frameworks, define success metrics and develop strategies for scaling successful AI projects across their operations.

Social Impact Organisations Face Early-Stage Challenges

Compared to healthcare, organisations in the social impact sector remain at an earlier stage of AI adoption.

Many are still exploring practical use cases while building the internal capacity and governance structures needed to deploy AI responsibly.

According to startAD, providing practical guidance is becoming increasingly important as organisations move beyond experimentation and begin integrating AI into everyday operations.

New Resources to Support AI Adoption

Alongside the report, startAD has launched two implementation playbooks through its new AI Resource Hub.

The first helps organisations identify and validate practical AI use cases without requiring technical expertise, while the second provides guidance on evaluating AI solutions and running responsible pilot projects.

The resources are intended to help organisations move from AI experimentation to structured implementation while improving decision-making and measuring long-term impact.

Supporting Responsible AI Across the Region

The AI Adoption Barometer forms part of Google's regional AI Opportunity Initiative, supported by Google.org, which aims to accelerate responsible AI adoption across the Middle East and North Africa.

To date, startAD's AI for Good programme has engaged five organisations, delivered 13 AI readiness workshops and improved participants' AI readiness by 43%. The initiative has also mobilised nearly 200 students and AI solution builders across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the wider MENA region.