PwC finds Saudi organizations raise AI investment to 8 percent of revenues as measuring financial return becomes the critical test

Organizations in Saudi Arabia are moving from technical experimentation to linking artificial intelligence investments directly to business outcomes, driven by a supportive investment climate and advanced cloud infrastructure. A study by PwC Middle East shows that 78 percent of surveyed participants in Saudi Arabia now align their AI strategy with business goals, compared with a global average of 65 percent, alongside direct executive accountability for outcomes at 67 percent of local enterprises compared to 54 percent globally.

This strategic alignment is backed by tangible financial commitments, with surveyed Saudi organizations allocating an average of 8 percent of their revenues to AI initiatives, outpacing the global average of 6 percent. According to Vivek Sharma, Chief Technology and AI Officer at PwC Middle East, this spending gap reflects high confidence in the technology and readiness to scale it, though the real challenge is no longer about deploying capital or increasing pilot projects, but about building a unified operating model that links technology, data, workflows, and governance to measurable financial and operational outcomes.

Recording productivity gains does not necessarily translate automatically into increased revenue or cost reduction unless operating models are redesigned to absorb the freed capacity.Survey data reveals that 60 percent of Saudi participants observed a significant or very significant improvement in employee productivity, while 51 percent redesigned workflows to integrate AI, compared to only 32 percent globally. Converting saved time into financial returns, however, requires redirecting liberated human capacity toward higher value tasks, as well as establishing baselines to measure the difference accurately before and after implementation.

The report highlights an existing gap in evaluation methodology, with only 53 percent of participants reporting systematic and regular tracking of AI impact on performance indicators. PwC scores Saudi organizations at 6.4 out of 10 on its AI fitness index, compared to 7.1 for global leaders. This gap does not stem from a lack of data access or weak infrastructure, but from the ability to scale proven solutions out of isolated departments across the entire organization using standardized, reusable software components and data registries.

Practical recommendations for executive leadership across Gulf and regional markets emphasize focusing on three to five critical business outcomes, avoiding the dilution of resources across scattered exploratory initiatives. Moving toward agentic systems also requires restricting their autonomy to routine, repetitive tasks such as sorting and routing, while maintaining strict human oversight and accountability for decisions carrying critical financial or operational impact.