The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has published its annual artificial intelligence (AI) survey, showing that 71% of respondents use AI, up from 52% in 2025 and 33% in 2024. Generative AI adoption reached 67% of respondents, compared with 48% in 2025. The findings show uneven deployment across firms, alongside growing reliance on external providers and cloud infrastructure that requires firms to manage associated risks. Adoption does not necessarily mean extensive operational use. Among AI adopters, 74% reported that at least some applications remained in pilots or covered only a small share of a business area. Generative AI remained concentrated in internal activities, with 91% of users deploying it in functions such as human resources, legal or finance. Reliance on external technology also increased: 75% of generative AI users used applications developed by third parties, up from 65% in 2025. Among AI adopters, 73% reported that between 91% and 100% of their AI applications ran on cloud platforms, compared with 62% in 2025. These dependencies can create additional risks to data security and service continuity, as well as concentration risk. Governance arrangements varied in maturity. Among AI adopters, 61% had an AI governance framework and 41% maintained an inventory or register of AI use cases. Monitoring after deployment ranged from formal reporting to informal or ad hoc arrangements, with some firms still developing capabilities. Firms remain responsible for understanding external dependencies and maintaining appropriate governance, security, monitoring and recovery arrangements. The DFSA will use the findings to inform its supervision, including the annual technology and cyber-risk self-assessment and its assessment of material AI use, governance and dependencies on third parties.

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