IBM and Deloitte Target Gulf with Ambitious AI Governance Initiative

IBM and Deloitte have teamed up at GITEX 2025 with a rather ambitious goal: helping organisations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) harness artificial intelligence in a “responsible” way — and at scale. The agreement, signed by IBM Middle East and Africa’s Saad Toma and Deloitte Middle East’s Muhannad Tayem, covers markets including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait. It’s not just another handshake photo op either; the partnership is meant to push forward AI-led transformation across sectors like banking, energy, government, and finance.

From what’s been outlined, both firms will zero in on three main areas — AI, financial operations (FinOps), and cybersecurity. The plan also includes setting up an **AI Governance Centre of Excellence**, which will combine Deloitte’s consultancy expertise with IBM’s watsonx.governance platform. In simpler terms, this means helping regional clients deploy AI systems that aren’t just clever but trustworthy — something that’s becoming a hot topic as companies grapple with data ethics and algorithmic bias.

According to Saad Toma, AI is now “the defining technology of our time,” and many Middle Eastern organisations are moving from dabbling to rolling it out fully. Kathy Kadoch from Deloitte added that, with the right guidance, businesses can shift from small pilot projects to large-scale AI adoption backed by cloud and cybersecurity solutions — essentially moving from curiosity to capability. Tayem put it even more bluntly: enterprises in the Gulf are tackling “complex transformations” that demand speed and strategic clarity, a balancing act that’s easier said than done.

Now, I’ve watched this AI wave roll through plenty of regional conferences before, and it often feels like everyone’s chasing the same shiny object. But I reckon this particular tie-up could actually stick, mainly because IBM’s tech stack and Deloitte’s consulting presence complement each other well. That said, translating these slick memorandums into on-the-ground results is, as we say, a bit of a faff.

Still, from Arageek’s lens — where we’ve long championed digitisation and startup empowerment across MENA — this partnership does sound promising. If SMEs and national projects can tap into the frameworks coming out of this collaboration, it could help demystify AI in a region where many firms remain wary about diving in.

And believe it or not, behind the business speak lies a broader story: how global and regional players are shaping what “responsible” innovation really looks like in practice. Whether the Gulf becomes a model for scaled, ethical AI will depend not just on big players like IBM and Deloitte, but also on how local enterprises ride this new digital tide. For now, though, the mood at GITEX suggests everyone’s chuffed to bits about where it might lead — and rightly so, even if the journey’s going to be long and, well… definately complex.

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