Sunday Essay — Between the Certificate and the Roster: The Gulf's Telco Classrooms

Gulf states have issued millions of AI certificates, yet telco rosters are not moving at the same pace. This essay examines the gap between what Saudi Arabia's SAMAI, the UAE's AI Nation Afaaq, and Qatar's operator programmes report as training headcounts and what shows up in actual hiring specifications and retention figures — and argues that the certificate is a promise the operator has not yet…