Presight locks in record domestic order book + New music investment platform - UAE

Presight AI posted a record domestic order book in 2Q as revenue climbed 36.1% year-on-year, driven by large renewals of two national platforms and an initial move into non-kinetic defence contracting. The UAE mandate to deploy agentic AI across half of government operations has prompted a surge in local demand: “local government clients have been ‘flooding in with requests’,” company updates show, leaving a sizable pipeline still to be executed.

“Local government clients have been ‘flooding in with requests’,” the company said, underlining how the recent regulatory push is translating into commercial pipeline for AI systems tailored to government workflows.

Presight’s performance in 2Q reflects two simultaneous dynamics: accelerated renewals from existing national platforms and early wins in non-kinetic defence work, which broaden the company’s addressable market. The firm did not disclose absolute order-book value in the brief, but the 36.1% revenue increase signals material scale in its domestic operations. That surge arrives as the UAE accelerates AI deployment across public services, creating near-term demand for agentic systems, data integration and localised model deployments.

• IPNation, a UAE-based startup, launched a new investment platform focused on Arabic music and entertainment intellectual property, pitching the asset class as underexploited and poised to gain value in an era of cheap, rapid content generation via AI.
• OpenAI announced an Inference Residency offering making the UAE one of only three markets globally where model inference runs locally, with GPT-5.2 supported under the UAE configuration; several features including image generation, ChatGPT Work, improved memory and GPT-Live remain excluded from that residency.
• Adnoc has been shuttling Iraqi crude across the Strait of Hormuz using short-hop, transponder-off tactics, transferring cargoes to other vessels outside the Gulf; trading houses Vitol and TotalEnergies are among firms moving Iraqi oil through the arrangement.
• Large infrastructure moves continue: Turkish contractor Kalyon İnşaat said work has started on the Abu Dhabi section of Etihad Rail’s 150 km Abu Dhabi–Dubai high-speed line, a package covering about 97 km, four stations and an 11.2 km twin-tube tunnel, with completion targeted for 2031. The UAE awarded more than USD 8 billion of design-and-build contracts for the first 150 km phase earlier this year.

Macro and sectoral trends add texture to the near-term outlook. The World Travel & Tourism Council warns GCC tourism could shed 137,000 jobs this year as traveler numbers fall amid regional tensions; the UAE’s tourism workforce is expected to shrink to 901,000 jobs in 2026 from 947,000 in 2025, with the sector’s GDP contribution projected to contract 14.5% to USD 330 billion. The WTTC nonetheless forecasts a long-term recovery to USD 605 billion in tourism GDP and roughly 1.2 million jobs by 2036.

Outlook: Presight’s record domestic order book and the IPNation launch both signal growing investor and buyer interest in locally tailored digital and cultural assets as AI adoption accelerates. Operationally, the ramp-up in agentic AI deployments should sustain software and services demand across government, but execution will hinge on delivery timelines and compliance with emerging inference and data-residency rules. Meanwhile, Adnoc’s intervention in shuttling Iraqi crude highlights how energy logistics are adapting to geopolitical risk — a dynamic that could sustain demand for specialist maritime services and risk-mitigation playbooks even as tourism and other sectors navigate short-term headwinds.