Abu Dhabi wants to be an AI leader. Aligning with the US is just the start

CNN — The world’s first minister dedicated to developing artificial intelligence strategy is already becoming embroiled in a global power struggle for tech supremacy. “We want to ensure that we are at the frontier of the technology, and that’s why we work with partners around the frontier,” said Olama, “and play by the rules that are set by the market leaders.” Olama, whose ministerial remit includes digital economy and remote work applications, wants to make the UAE a global leader in artificial intelligence by 2031. Nvidia, the world’s third biggest company after Microsoft and Apple, said in an August 2023 regulatory filing that the US government had informed the chipmaker that some of its products would face additional licensing requirements for “certain customers and other regions, including some countries in the Middle East.” Some US politicians have raised concerns that they don’t have enough details about the deal between G42 and Microsoft and that US technology might be vulnerable to Chinese espionage in the UAE. In October 2023, a collaboration between Abu Dhabi’s Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, Silicon Valley-based Cerebras Systems and Inception, a subsidiary of G42, produced Jais, a generative AI model trained on Arabic as well as English. A collaboration between Abu Dhabi’s Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, Silicon Valley-based Cerebras Systems and Inception, a subsidiary of G42, produced Jais, a generative AI model trained in Arabic as well as English.