Artificial intelligence will hit countries that benefit from outsourcing and exporting their workforce, as AI replaces roles and work, a Dubai billionaire said.
Speaking during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum 2026 in Davos, Switzerland, Hussain Sajwani, founder and chairman of Damac, said India could take a hit due to significant outsourcing to the South Asian country.
“AI is going to change the world. How the Internet revolutionised the world, AI is going to do it 10 or even 100 times more. We’re going through the same stage the Ottoman Empire did when it refused to adopt the typewriter, and it was left behind. The Europeans were very behind in the 11th-12th centuries, while the Middle East and Arabs were much more advanced. It reversed, because with the Industrial Revolution, Europe took the lead and moved forward. Today, countries that are going to lead in AI are definitely going to be much ahead, and those that take it easy and just talk about it will be left behind,” said Sajwani, who recently announced a $20 billion investment in data centres in the US.
Citing the huge gap between Europe and Africa, he stressed that countries that embrace AI and those that don’t will face a similar gap.
“One of the countries going to suffer is India, because a lot of outsourcing was happening from companies like us, America and others. They’re not required to employ Indians because AI is going take 80 per cent of accountant jobs, nurses and so on and so forth,” added Damac founder.
This was also highlighted by Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of Foreign Trade, during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum, saying that the UAE is increasingly deploying robotics and AI across the construction and manufacturing sectors as it faces growing difficulty in attracting young, non-skilled workers.
“As a nation, we welcome everyone, and we are attracting talent. One of the challenges we face is that we’re heavily dependent on non-skilled labour for construction. It’s becoming aging. It’s too difficult to attract new young people to start working in construction. Robotics is the main solution,” he said in Davos.
Europe lagging in AI
Hussain Sajwani noted that Europe is not moving forward in AI and will be behind.
“I have a feeling that when the AI hits the European job market, they will regulate it, and that will make it even worse, because countries are going to protect the jobs and don’t embrace AI. Countries that go with AI will move forward. China, America, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia are taking the lead and moving forward quickly as they’re putting a lot of time, effort, and money into it. But we are small economies, hence, we’re not going to make a dent globally, but America and China are the ones who want to drive this, and it’s going to be a major revolution.”
Noor Ali Alkhulaif, minister of sustainable development and CEO of the Economic Development Board in Bahrain; Hisham Ezz-Al-Arab, CEO of Commercial International Bank (CIB); and Ahmed Kouchouk, minister of finance of Egypt, also took part in the panel discussion on prosperity in the Middle East.
Who will build Gaza?
Hussain Sajwani, who has close ties with the US President Donald Trump, hoped that anything related to the peace in the region is “music to everybody’s ears.”
On Friday, Trump launched his Board of Peace plan for Gaza. Trump, who will chair the board, invited dozens of other world leaders to join, saying he wanted it to address challenges beyond the stuttering Gaza ceasefire.
Middle East powers, including Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar, as well as major emerging nations such as Indonesia, have joined the board.
“The region has suffered a lot of wars, so anything for peace is music to everybody’s ear, and we love to see this initiative (by the US president) succeed. The region needs that. The people in Gaza need that,” he added.
While replying to a query about the roles of the government and the private sector in rebuilding Gaza, the UAE’s largest private developer said it’s the governments that will have to foot the bill.
“The private sector will be able to build, but they have to be paid because those will be mostly contractors, who are not the wealthiest people in the world. The governments will have to pitch in the amount, which will be huge. You’re talking about homes for about two million people,” he said, adding that “would the private sector contribute? Probably, yes, if you ask people for donations, they will contribute based on their capacities. But that’s not going to solve the problem.”