By
TBY
| Kuwait | Sep 19, 2024
As Kuwait’s economy becomes increasingly diversified, new technology is revealing unprecedented opportunities.
Image credit: Shutterstock / Ali Al-Omar
Moore’s Law has essentially become a metaphor for inevitable technological progress.
Where AI is concerned, some fear that without prioritizing checks and balances, AI is a loaded gun in the hands of an unknowable stranger.
Earlier this year, the cautionary words of erstwhile Google executive Mo Gawdat shook YouTube. Wryly, he observed that AI will soon exceed human IQ so profoundly that it will have no more urge to destroy all humans than we have the urge to destroy all ants.
But despite being humbled by insect status, let’s stay positive and focus on the fantastic pace of computing power and data storage, the must-haves of AI and Big Data.
Whatever your viewpoint, we are clearly on the cusp of a radically new reality. Last year, the AI market was worth USD28.34 billion globally, with no signs of deceleration.
Big Numbers to Process
Sector data values Kuwait’s ICT market at USD22.48 billion in 2023—with a projected CAGR of 9.84% by 2028. By that year, the forecast value is USD39.83 billion.
And Kuwait is confident of AI and Big data silently propelling the economy behind the scenes. There is a vibrant ecosystem where start-ups thrive, from sandbox to marketplace. Tellingly, since 2000, investment in local AI start-ups has soared fourfold to 2023.
Almost 70% of multinationals present in the local market expect AI technology to sharpen their competitiveness. And among local firms, 62% consider it essential to operations.
Kuwait Waves Goodbye to Analog
Kuwait Vision 2035 foresees a digitalized Kuwait of smart cities with an economy leveraging the AI-assisted benefits of Industry 4.0.
The country is relentlessly pursuing collaborative knowledge sharing in pursuit of previously unachievable efficiency levels. Levels equally valid in the industrial arena and healthcare—where predictive analysis spells preventive measures—and education, as well as the state apparatus.
The burgeoning AI sector requires more skilled operators, which points to many interesting job opportunities from now on.
Indeed, we find the state collaborating closely with academia en route to digital transformation.
In the classroom or one-to-one setting, AI means personalized learning, structured assessment, and adaptive programs that get the most out of the Kuwaiti student —tomorrow’s employees.
The State of the State
Kuwait’s National AI Strategy has harnessed state policy to private sector endeavors in forging a local smart ecosystem.
One capable of identifying and challenging key hurdles like data security and other cybercrime. An ecosystem, too, that pays more than lip service to the ethical implications of data mining and monitoring.
Looking inward, the state is working with private sector innovators for greater transparency, security, and overall efficiency, if truth be told, not previously a prioritized consideration.
Microsoft Kuwait, whose Country Manager Alaeddine Karim spoke with TBY, exemplifies this partnership. He highlights the change in strategy since entering the market 25 years ago. Gone is the “PC on every desk”target in a country with nearly 100% internet penetration.
Today, “in collaboration with the Kuwaiti government, we launched the Cloud Center of Excellence with the Central Agency for Information Technology (CAIT) and the Massar initiative. This initiative, sponsored by CAIT, involves engaging with government entities to identify a roadmap for their digital transformation.”
A Criminally Worrying Reality
Microsoft’s Karim explains how “AI [enabling] behavior analysis [is] is vital for detecting cyber attacks that may go unnoticed for months or years.”
This is why Microsoft has introduced the “Zero Trust Program in partnership with the Kuwaiti government, guiding entities in understanding their security landscape, identifying risks, and implementing recommendations for improved security.”
A report by Cybercrime Magazine gives a hair-whitening breakdown of global cybercrime costs for 2023.
Deep breath…USD8 trillion per year, making USD667 billion a month, USD154 billion a week, USD21.9 billion a day, USD913 million per hour, and a princely USD15.2 million per minute. For the more masochistic reader, that is USD255,000 every second.
The figures, sadly, remain northbound for 2024, with the global annual cost of cybercrime predicted to scale up to USD9.5 trillion. In parallel, the cost to firms of cybercrime-related damages is predicted to be USD10.5 trillion by 2025.
Moody’s is cited as identifying critical infrastructure like electric, gas, and water utilities and healthcare facilities as facing very high cyber risk exposure.
Then come finance, telecommunications, technology, chemicals, energy, and transportation services, which suffer high exposure.
Kuwait’s strategy of economic diversification envisages the creation of many more firms, notably SMEs, which today contribute just 3% to GDP.
That number is set to rise toward that of more diversified countries. This merits consideration because Moody’s identifies SMEs as being most at risk from cyber attacks, at over 50% of the total, while 60-plus% go belly-up.
