The rise of artificial intelligence has many white-collar professionals around the world worried. From lawyers to creatives, there is real fear that AI could soon replace the roles they do.
Many firms in the UAE are embracing new tools to automate tasks – no surprises in a country that wants to be number one for AI use. Often, senior staff find them a work in progress and say AI tools cannot yet replace skilled workers.
About a quarter of the 200 professionals polled by The National on LinkedIn say they are worried that AI will affect their jobs in future – but not right now.
On the plus side, more than half claim the technology has made their job easier. Seven per cent – admittedly from a small polling base – say their role has already been replaced by AI.
Among the most vulnerable are content writers in media, advertising and marketing.
We experiment with AI a lot but have seen it drop the ball many times
Sakher Al Adaileh,
Velocity Growth
Sreejith NK, a content writer for a corporate services company in Dubai, said AI has already disrupted his job. "Before the advent of AI, I enjoyed commanding power in the company, especially while negotiating salary hikes,” he told The National.
“But the other day the company offered me two options: either search for a new job or become a remote freelancer for them at half the salary. I accepted the second option due to my financial commitments."
His company believes AI can produce and craft content, and a junior worker on a lower salary can check it over to save on marketing costs, Mr Sreejith said.
"I believe AI has diminished the relevance of content writers and minimised our negotiating power," he added.
But more skilled or hands-on roles are generally safe for now, said David Mackenzie, of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones. He believes it will take five to 10 years before it causes major job disruption in the UAE.
AI can only replace repetitive processes, he said. “AI is currently not sophisticated enough to do the roles of senior white-collar professionals that count on experience," he added. "As a senior person, you'll stay in your job for the next 10 years."
Mr Mackenzie said roles in technology, health care diagnostics, insurance and tellers in banking, where there are repetitive processes, would be affected by AI.
Speciality roles
Similarly, transactional roles in financial services may be affected by AI but not decision-making jobs, said Oscar Orellana-Hyder of executive search firm Cordell Partners.
Fund and investment managers are currently experimenting with AI to understand cost-benefit analysis and check whether automation can replace a junior worker, he said.
“Junior roles could potentially be replaced but there is no threat of immediate displacement,” Mr Orellana-Hyder said. "For example, an execution trader, executing orders from a portfolio manager, could potentially be replaced over time.
“Senior-level roles are relatively insulated from AI because of the decision-making involved, seniority, tenure at the firm and respect gained over years.”
The International Monetary Fund says nearly 60 per cent of jobs in advanced economies may be affected by AI – though only about half of those might suffer negatively, while the rest could benefit from enhanced productivity.
The World Economic Forum projects that by 2030, AI and automation could eliminate 75 million jobs while creating 133 million more, a net gain of 58 million roles.
Al-Futtaim, one of the Middle East's largest private sector employers with 33,000 staff, said AI is positively affecting a variety of roles across the conglomerate. It is also leading to the creation of new roles.
“AI-driven automation has absorbed many of the repetitive, data-intensive tasks that were previously a drain on our teams’ time,” said Himanshu Shrivastava, chief technology officer. "This has allowed our employees to shift their focus towards higher-value activities such as strategic planning, creative problem-solving and building stronger customer relationships."
Upskilling for 1,000 staff in the space of a few months and the creation of new roles, including data officers, are a major focus, he said.
Watch: Amazon backs AI that lets you make your own TV show
Citing strong demand for expertise in data science, analytics and machine-learning roles, Mr Shrivastava highlighted popular roles in the tech world such as AI product management, prompt engineering, AI architects, AI ethics experts and AI security experts, among others.
AI shortcomings
Sakher Al Adaileh, managing partner of consulting firm Velocity Growth, said AI is becoming a “real force” in creative, analytical and executional roles. Although it is less embedded is in decision-making roles, where AI can be trusted is to respond to customer queries quickly and project budgets, but it still needs a human in the loop.
“We experiment with AI a lot but have seen it drop the ball many times, hence there’s always a human element to varying degrees in our AI-powered workstreams," he said. "AI is only as good as the model it’s trained on but a human can read between the lines."
Perplexity AI has made research so much faster that business development teams can spend more time engaging with clients instead of gathering background information, he said.
Also, a few designers with AI-based design tools can now do the work of a much larger team. Machine-learning models such as Meta’s Prophet or Google’s Bert help produce forecasts and sentiment analysis within hours, “work that used to take days or even weeks of manual effort only a year or two ago”, he said.
Savings and costs
Similarly, Flowwow, a UAE-based gift marketplace, said it now uses an AI-powered support assistant to resolve 30 per cent of all tickets, equivalent to the workload of three agents.
“Take an e-commerce company using AI every day. Instead of paying hundreds or thousands for stock photography or professional shoots, they subscribe to Midjourney for $30 a month to generate images for their site, ads and communications. AI still can’t compete with the quality, emotions and authenticity a real photographer brings out in their shots, but at some point businesses are happy with 70 per cent to 80 per cent quality at a fraction of the cost,” Mr Al Adaileh said.
“Their WhatsApp AI-powered chatbot answers customer questions instantly, 24/7, with no night shifts or large customer service team required. AI also reshuffles their homepage and pushes relevant categories to the top based on live conversion data, which boosts sales, while tools like Loveable allow companies to test product ideas in days, instead of weeks.”
However, the infrastructure costs to power AI can scale up faster than one would like. While working with enterprise or government clients, change management and getting end users to embrace the technology is also a journey in itself, Mr Al Adaileh warned.
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
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Price: From Dh117,059
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The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8
Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm
Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km
Price: Dh380,000
On sale: now
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
THE BIO
Favourite place to go to in the UAE: The desert sand dunes, just after some rain
Who inspires you: Anybody with new and smart ideas, challenging questions, an open mind and a positive attitude
Where would you like to retire: Most probably in my home country, Hungary, but with frequent returns to the UAE
Favorite book: A book by Transilvanian author, Albert Wass, entitled ‘Sword and Reap’ (Kard es Kasza) - not really known internationally
Favourite subjects in school: Mathematics and science
THE SPECS
Engine: 4.4-litre V8
Transmission: Automatic
Power: 530bhp
Torque: 750Nm
Price: Dh535,000
On sale: Now
Porsche Taycan Turbo specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
Torque: 1050Nm
Range: 450km
Price: Dh601,800
On sale: now
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
Two products to make at home
Toilet cleaner
1 cup baking soda
1 cup castile soap
10-20 drops of lemon essential oil (or another oil of your choice)
Method:
1. Mix the baking soda and castile soap until you get a nice consistency.
2. Add the essential oil to the mix.
Air Freshener
100ml water
5 drops of the essential oil of your choice (note: lavender is a nice one for this)
Method:
1. Add water and oil to spray bottle to store.
2. Shake well before use.
Hamilton’s 2017
Australia - 2nd; China - 1st; Bahrain - 2nd; Russia - 4th; Spain - 1st; Monaco - 7th; Canada - 1st; Azerbaijan - 5th; Austria - 4th; Britain - 1st; Hungary - 4th; Belgium - 1st; Italy - 1st; Singapore - 1st; Malaysia - 2nd; Japan - 1st; United States - 1st; Mexico - 9th
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Results
6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Dirt) 1,200m; Winner: Major Cinnamon, Fernando Jara, Mujeeb Rahman
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,900m; Winner: Al Mureib, Fernando Jara, Ahmad bin Harmash
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (D) 2,000m; Winner: Remorse, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
8.15pm: Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Meshakel, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
8.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Desert Peace, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m; Winner: Sharamm, Ryan Curatlo, Satish Seemar
If you go...
Etihad Airways flies from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur, from about Dh3,600. Air Asia currently flies from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu, with Berjaya Hotels & Resorts planning to launch direct chartered flights to Redang Island in the near future. Rooms at The Taaras Beach and Spa Resort start from 680RM (Dh597).
Tips to stay safe during hot weather
- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
- Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
- Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
- Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
- Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
- Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
- Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
The years Ramadan fell in May
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The specs: 2019 Jeep Wrangler
Price, base: Dh132,000
Engine: 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 285hp @ 6,400rpm
Torque: 347Nm @ 4,100rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.6L to 10.3L / 100km
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
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FFP EXPLAINED
What is Financial Fair Play?
Introduced in 2011 by Uefa, European football’s governing body, it demands that clubs live within their means. Chiefly, spend within their income and not make substantial losses.
What the rules dictate?
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.
What are the penalties?
There are a number of punishments, including fines, a loss of prize money or having to reduce squad size for European competition – as happened to PSG in 2014. There is even the threat of a competition ban, which could in theory lead to PSG’s suspension from the Uefa Champions League.
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War by Thomas J. Brennan and Finbarr O’Reilly
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Day 1, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Dimuth Karunaratne had batted with plenty of pluck, and no little skill, in getting to within seven runs of a first-day century. Then, while he ran what he thought was a comfortable single to mid-on, his batting partner Dinesh Chandimal opted to stay at home. The opener was run out by the length of the pitch.
Stat of the day - 1 One six was hit on Day 1. The boundary was only breached 18 times in total over the course of the 90 overs. When it did arrive, the lone six was a thing of beauty, as Niroshan Dickwella effortlessly clipped Mohammed Amir over the square-leg boundary.
The verdict Three wickets down at lunch, on a featherbed wicket having won the toss, and Sri Lanka’s fragile confidence must have been waning. Then Karunaratne and Chandimal's alliance of precisely 100 gave them a foothold in the match. Dickwella’s free-spirited strokeplay meant the Sri Lankans were handily placed at 227 for four at the close.
