Nine in 10 Saudi organisations say their artificial intelligence initiatives have met or exceeded their original return-on-investment goals, according to new research from Riverbed.
The findings point to a shift in the Kingdom from AI experimentation towards wider use in enterprise operations. However, companies remain cautious about allowing AI to make operational decisions without human approval.
Riverbed’s State of Autonomous IT Operations survey found that 66% of Saudi respondents increased AI investment over the past year. At the same time, 85% expect to reach human-supervised or highly autonomous IT operations within the next two years.
The Saudi findings are based on 100 respondents from a wider global survey of 1,200 business decision-makers, IT leaders and technical specialists across seven countries. Coleman Parkes Research conducted the survey in July 2026.
Saudi companies show confidence in AI governance
Saudi organisations also reported relatively high confidence in their ability to govern AI.
Some 54% of Saudi respondents said they were extremely confident in their organisation’s AI governance and human-oversight capabilities. The figure compares with 42% globally.
However, confidence does not mean companies are ready to remove people from the decision-making process.
About 77% of Saudi respondents reported internal hesitation about allowing AI to make operational decisions without human approval. In addition, 93% agreed that AI assurance, observability and governance will become a critical IT domain.
The findings suggest that governance is becoming part of the operating model for enterprise AI. Companies are not only asking what AI can automate. They are also considering where human approval should remain.
“Saudi Arabia has built tremendous momentum around AI, supported by ambitious national programmes and organisations focused on translating innovation into measurable outcomes,” said Salman Ali, Senior Manager, Solution Engineering, GCC, at Riverbed.
“The next stage will be defined by how effectively enterprises can govern AI and apply it to improve everyday operations,” Ali said.
AI adoption is moving towards proactive IT support
The survey also points to changes in how Saudi companies expect IT teams to support employees.
Some 44% of Saudi respondents said their IT operations teams are extremely effective at using AI to identify and resolve issues before employees notice a disruption. The comparable global figure was 34%.
Meanwhile, 36% expect the service desk to move from reactive support towards proactive prevention.
That shift could change the type of work handled by IT teams. Instead of waiting for employees to report a problem, AI systems could identify early signs of disruption and allow teams to address them first.
Overall, 96% of Saudi respondents expect AI-powered operational intelligence to have at least a moderate impact on frontline IT and service-desk capabilities within two years.
AI ambition faces a visibility gap
The survey also highlights a gap between Saudi companies’ AI ambitions and their current IT infrastructure.
About 95% of Saudi respondents consider multi-domain visibility at least somewhat important for AI-driven IT operations. Yet only 22% said they currently have fully unified visibility across networks, applications, endpoints and cloud environments.
The gap matters because AI systems need access to reliable data and a broad view of IT environments to identify problems and recommend action.
Tool consolidation is also emerging as a priority. Some 94% of Saudi respondents agreed that consolidating tools can reduce operational friction. The same proportion said a unified platform can simplify problem identification and resolution.
Global AI adoption still faces a readiness gap
The Saudi findings broadly reflect the tension seen in Riverbed’s global survey.
Globally, 90% of organisations said they want agentic AI to drive autonomous IT operations. Yet only 19% of IT operations are currently automated, while 41% said their environments are fully prepared for AI.
Only 9% of AI initiatives are fully deployed across organisations, according to the global findings. Trust remains another barrier. Globally, 77% of respondents said their organisations are hesitant to allow AI to make operational decisions without human approval.
Riverbed said the research shows that the next stage of enterprise AI adoption will depend on visibility, data quality, governance and human oversight, rather than automation alone.
For Saudi employers, the workplace impact is likely to extend beyond technology teams. As AI takes on more operational tasks, IT roles could shift towards monitoring, exception handling, governance and proactive problem prevention.
That makes the quality of AI governance and the availability of skilled employees increasingly important as organisations move from AI investment to execution at scale.
