The short answer
Technology in 2035 will probably feel less like new gadgets and more like routine work getting done without you. That is our opinion, not a forecast. We think AI agents will handle much of the admin of running a business, customers will expect useful replies in seconds, and trust will become the thing people pay extra for. The forces behind this are already visible in the UAE today, and the best thing you can do this year is put one AI assistant to work on your customer replies and learn from it.
For a narrower view of the next few years, read what AI means for small businesses by 2030. This piece looks further out.
A day in 2035 (imagined, not predicted)
Everything in this section is invented: a picture to think with, not a claim. The sourced facts come after it.
It is a Tuesday in March 2035 and you run a small interiors business in Dubai. Before your first coffee, your assistant has a summary ready. Enquiries came in overnight from Riyadh, London and Sydney, and most were answered in the customer's own language, with real prices and dates from your calendar. Two people booked a showroom visit. One asked something unusual about a custom piece, and the assistant did not guess. It wrote: "This one needs you."
Your ride to a client in Abu Dhabi has no driver. On the way, your supplier's software and yours agree a delivery window, and you approve the payment with one tap.
Then comes the part of the day that has not changed. You sit with the client for two hours. She wants to know that you understand her family, her taste and her budget before she signs. No software closes that deal. You do.
The forces shaping technology in 2035, already in motion
Every part of that imagined day has a real starting point in 2026. As of October 2026, six forces matter most for business owners: AI assistants and agents, voice, automation, payments, search turning into AI answers, and the energy and computing power behind all of it.
AI assistants and agents
An AI agent is software that takes steps toward a goal on your behalf, such as checking a calendar, filling in a form or sending a quote, instead of only answering a question. In April 2026 the UAE Cabinet unveiled a framework to transform 50% of UAE Government sectors and services to agentic AI within two years. Behind it is a long plan: the UAE launched its AI strategy in October 2017, and the Cabinet adopted the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031, which aims to make the country a global leader in AI by 2031. Our view: people who get used to that speed from government will expect it from you.
Voice
Voice is becoming a normal way to talk to software. We think this matters more in the Gulf than elsewhere, because customers switch between Arabic and English and speaking is often quicker than typing in either. AI voice agents can already answer calls, book appointments and pass hard conversations to a person. That is the kind of work our AI automation service does today, with a human always able to step in.
Automation
Automation means software doing a repeatable task, such as moving an order from a form into your accounts, without anyone retyping it. In December 2021, Dubai said it had become the world's first paperless government, with all internal and external government transactions digital. If a whole government can do that, a twelve-person trading company can stop copying orders into spreadsheets.
Payments
Payments are getting faster, and starting to work without a person pressing every button. In October 2023, Al Etihad Payments, a subsidiary of the Central Bank of the UAE, launched Aani, an instant payments platform for sending money by phone number and paying merchants by QR code. Globally, Google announced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) in September 2025, an open standard for AI agents to buy things with proof that the user approved.
Search turning into AI answers
Search is shifting from a list of links to a written answer. In July 2025, Google said AI Overviews had over 2 billion monthly users across more than 200 countries and territories and 40 languages. By 2035 we expect many buyers to simply ask an assistant "who should I hire for this in Dubai?" Being the business it recommends is a skill of its own, explained in our guide to generative engine optimisation.
Energy, compute and transport
All of this runs on electricity. In April 2025 the International Energy Agency projected that data centre electricity use will more than double to around 945 TWh by 2030, and its base case sees around 1,200 TWh by 2035. In May 2025, OpenAI, G42 and partners announced Stargate UAE, a 1-gigawatt computing cluster within a planned 5-gigawatt AI campus in Abu Dhabi.
The streets are changing too. Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority states the goal that by 2030, 25% of all transportation trips in Dubai will be smart and driverless.
What businesses will compete on in 2035
Our opinion is that four things will separate the businesses that grow in 2035: speed of reply, trust, the quality of their own data, and human taste. When every company can rent the same AI, what you build around it becomes the advantage.
Speed of reply
When a buyer's assistant can contact five suppliers at once, the first accurate answer usually wins. We think that by 2035 routine questions (price, availability, hours) will be expected instantly, while considered answers still come from a person within hours.
Trust
As AI makes it cheap to fake reviews, photos and even voices, real proof gets more valuable: named clients, a verified business profile, a face behind the brand. We would bet that "can I believe this company?" becomes the biggest question in buying, and that honest businesses get rewarded for it.
Your own data
Agents are only as useful as what they know. A business with a clean record of its customers, orders and questions (collected with permission) can give its assistant real context. A business whose knowledge lives in one person's head and three WhatsApp groups cannot. It is the least exciting item here and, in our view, the one that matters most.
Human taste
When a design, a caption or a proposal costs almost nothing to generate, choosing well becomes the scarce skill. Knowing what a buyer in Dubai Marina wants that a buyer in Al Ain does not. That judgement comes from years of paying attention, not from a model.
What will not change
People will still buy from people they trust. That was true before the internet and we see no reason it stops in 2035. Technology changes how fast you reach someone, not why they choose you.
Many owners feel a quiet worry under all this: will AI make my business, or my team, unnecessary? We understand it. Our honest view is that it will remove many tasks, and fewer jobs than people fear, in businesses that move their people from typing to talking. In the UAE, a lot of business still begins over coffee. We think it still will in 2035, and the time saved on admin is time for exactly that.
Today vs 2035 (our view)
How things work as of October 2026, next to how we think they will work in 2035. The right-hand column is opinion.
| Area | Today (2026) | 2035 (our view) |
|---|---|---|
| Customer enquiries | Staff reply on WhatsApp and email, often hours later | Assistants answer routine questions instantly; people handle the rest |
| How buyers find you | Google results, AI Overviews, social media | Mostly through AI assistants that recommend and compare |
| Payments | Cards, bank transfers, instant platforms like Aani | Agents pay within limits you approve in advance |
| Getting around Dubai | Mostly human drivers, robotaxi pilots | Driverless trips are a normal option |
| Office admin | Copying data between tools by hand | Most of it runs in the background |
| Marketing content | Made by people, sometimes with AI help | Cheap to make; taste and proof are what stand out |
| Owner's main job | Doing, chasing and answering | Deciding, building relationships and checking the machines |
What to do this year to be ready
You do not need a 2035 plan. You need one good step in 2026 and the habit of taking the next one. Here is the order we would follow.
- Put an assistant on your most common question. Let an AI assistant answer the question your team answers twenty times a week, on WhatsApp or your website, with a clear handover to a person.
- Make your business easy for AI to read. Clear prices or price ranges, hours, location, services and an honest FAQ on your website. Assistants can only recommend what they can understand.
- Bring your customer data into one place. One CRM or even one tidy sheet, collected with consent, beats ten scattered chats.
- Collect real proof. Ask happy clients for named reviews and write down real results. This compounds.
- Write down what you will never automate. The client lunch, the final design call, the apology. Knowing your human lines makes automating the rest less scary.
If you want to feel what a 2026 assistant is like before deciding anything, talk to Astra, our AI assistant, by voice or text.
If you are a founder with an idea built for this future and no tech team yet, see how we work as a founder's tech team.
Start small, start this year
Nobody knows exactly what 2035 holds, including us. But the businesses that thrive then will not be the ones that guessed right. They will be the ones that started learning early, kept people at the centre and got a little braver every year.
If you would like help choosing your first step, book a 30-minute call with our senior team. We will tell you honestly which task to automate first, what it would cost, and whether it is worth doing at all. The price is agreed in writing before any work starts, and we reply to every message within 12 hours.
Frequently asked questions
What will technology in 2035 look like for businesses?
Our opinion is that technology in 2035 will mostly work in the background. AI agents will likely answer routine questions, move data between tools and make approved payments, while people focus on relationships and judgement.
What are the biggest future technology trends for 2035?
The trends with the clearest starting points today are AI agents, voice interfaces, automation, faster payments, search turning into AI answers, and the energy and computing power behind them. In the UAE, Dubai also aims for 25% of trips to be smart and driverless by 2030.
Will AI take jobs in the UAE by 2035?
AI will almost certainly take over many tasks, especially repetitive admin. Our view is that businesses which move their people from admin to customers will need them more, not less. Nobody can say for certain how jobs will look in 2035.
What is the UAE National AI Strategy 2031?
It is the UAE's national plan for artificial intelligence. The government launched its AI strategy in October 2017, and the Cabinet later adopted the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031, which aims to make the UAE a global leader in AI by 2031.
Is it too early for a small business to prepare for 2035?
No, because preparing does not mean predicting. It means small steps now: automate one repetitive task, make your website clear for AI assistants, collect real reviews. Each pays off in 2026 and keeps paying off.
Is this article a prediction or a fact?
Both, clearly separated. The forces in motion today are sourced facts with links. The imagined day, the 2035 column of the table and our views on competition are opinion, labelled as such.
Written byAstrafolio Team, senior web, SEO and AI specialists in Noida, India.
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