Hakan Ozdemir, who runs Siemens Smart Infrastructure across the Middle East and Qatar, argues the Gulf is moving with more urgency on AI-enabled infrastructure than global peers. Siemens’ Infrastructure Transition Monitor found 66% of Middle East executives want the energy transition to accelerate, against 57% worldwide, while 62% expect AI to reshape infrastructure operations within three years. The conversation covers smart grid software, AI-enabled buildings and data centers, and the tension between autonomous systems and physical vulnerability.