Morocco is now one of the region’s main exporters of AI-related products, yet only a small minority of its firms use artificial intelligence. The World Bank’s latest regional economic update, published on Tuesday 6 October, finds that 98.8% of Moroccan firms surveyed have basic digital tools, but just 4.3% use big data or AI in production. High-tech goods exceed 5% of manufactured exports.
The figures come from a 2024 survey of formal industrial and service establishments with at least five employees. While 31.7% have adopted more advanced technologies, fewer than half of those use them intensively enough to make them a core function. The Bank says productivity gains appear only with intensive use. Cloud computing reaches 38.2% of firms, 3D printing 9.4% and robotics 4.4%. Cost is the main obstacle cited.
Skills are advancing faster. The share of LinkedIn members with AI engineering skills more than tripled between 2016 and 2024, though Morocco also recorded net outflows of AI talent in 2024, towards the Gulf, France, Britain and the United States. In June 2026 it hosted 5% of the region’s connected data centers, behind Saudi Arabia at 22%, Pakistan at 19% and the United Arab Emirates at 15%.
On jobs, the least qualified workers are not necessarily the most exposed. In Morocco, urban and highly educated workers face greater exposure, though graduates are less concentrated in exposed cognitive professions than elsewhere. Women are over-represented in several exposed categories. The Bank distinguishes automation from “augmentation”.
The gap now lies in usage rather than equipment. Owning technology does not by itself raise productivity; firms must know how, be able and be willing to use it, the WB recommended.
