AI & Dubai

Dubai’s story is one of economic miracles. It is also a tale of “enough is enough.”

- Poon King Wang

In 1966, Dubai made its first oil discovery. It was a much-welcomed find: New revenues were needed for a city that had suffered an economic crisis barely three decades before.

For centuries, pearl fishing and trade had fueled Dubai’s economic engine. In 1590, Venice’s state jeweler described Dubai’s pearls as some of the “best, biggest and most beautiful pearls [that] could be found.” In 1929, however, pearl demand and prices plunged with the Great Depression. They would never recover, as mass manufactured pearls and regional tariffs dragged them down to new depths over the next two decades. The discovery of oil thus gave Dubai’s fledgling efforts to diversify its economy a big push. There was a small problem, though. Literally. The oil reserves found were too little to be a reliable long-term revenue engine. Compared to neighboring Abu Dhabi’s reserves, for example, Dubai’s was 25 times smaller. In fact, in 1991, 25 years after this first find, Dubai’s daily oil production reached its peak. It has been declining ever since.