Governing AI-driven Customer Segmentation in the MENA Region: Comparative Insights 
from North Africa and 
the Gulf Cooperation Council

This study examines the governance of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven customer segmentation within business intelligence (BI) systems in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with a comparative focus on the Gulf Cooperation Council and North African contexts. While regulatory frameworks such as the General Data Protection Regulation and the European Union AI Act provide important compliance benchmarks, compliance alone is insufficient to ensure ethical, trustworthy and value-aligned AI deployment. The study adopts a descriptive comparative design using secondary data from 2018 to 2025. It investigates how governance challenges emerge from fragmented responsibilities across technical, managerial and algorithmic domains in BI-driven AI systems. Findings indicate that AI-driven segmentation is more effective when supported by integrated governance structures that combine regulatory compliance with organizational oversight and technical controls such as auditing, transparency mechanisms and cross-functional coordination. The results further suggest that organizational capabilities related to expertise, collaboration and knowledge management play a critical role in enabling responsible AI implementation across the MENA region. The study is based on secondary data and does not establish causal relationships.