Artificial Intelligence Adoption and Economic Diversification in Iran’s Neighbouring Countries

For hydrocarbon-exporting economies in the Middle East, dependence on oil and gas revenues has created structural vulnerability to price shocks, energy transitions and long-term decarbonization pressures. In response, several neighbours of Iran have placed artificial intelligence (AI) at the centre of their economic diversification strategies. This paper examines how Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, Qatar and Azerbaijan are using AI to support non-oil growth, with a focus on strategy design, sectoral deployment, enabling infrastructure, and governance. The study employs a qualitative comparative case-study approach based on policy documents, national AI strategies, international reports and sectoral case examples. The analysis shows that Gulf monarchies in particular are combining large-scale capital expenditure on data centres and AI compute with aggressive regulatory experimentation and international partnerships, while Turkey and Azerbaijan are pursuing more incremental, institution-building trajectories under tighter resource constraints. Across cases, AI is being used to upgrade tourism, financial services, logistics, renewable energy, mining and healthcare, although the depth of adoption and evidence of productivity impact vary considerably. The paper identifies common enablers_x۰۰۰۰_۹۴such as national AI strategies, sovereign wealth_x۰۰۰۰_۹۱fund investment, and early movement on data and AI regulation_x۰۰۰۰_۹۴as well as persistent bottlenecks in skills, data quality and organisational change. It concludes with a set of lessons for Iran, arguing that copying flagship megaprojects is less important than building a coherent, long-horizon AI and data strategy anchored in institutional reform, human capital and selective international cooperation.

کلیدواژه ها:

Artificial intelligence ، economic diversification ، GCC