Zürcher Nachrichten - 'Selective' UAE courting US, not China, on AI: minister

EUR -
AED 3.832684
AFN 72.959602
ALL 98.462959
AMD 410.45402
ANG 1.873047
AOA 957.921829
ARS 1062.031565
AUD 1.668562
AWG 1.878277
AZN 1.784801
BAM 1.956057
BBD 2.098476
BDT 124.196346
BGN 1.95543
BHD 0.392152
BIF 3072.704402
BMD 1.043487
BND 1.411486
BOB 7.181945
BRL 6.350643
BSD 1.039337
BTN 88.357629
BWP 14.364891
BYN 3.401248
BYR 20452.35176
BZD 2.089175
CAD 1.498735
CDF 2994.808319
CHF 0.931781
CLF 0.03736
CLP 1030.865674
CNY 7.613704
CNH 7.60587
COP 4549.298739
CRC 524.369013
CUC 1.043487
CUP 27.652414
CVE 110.279514
CZK 25.108428
DJF 185.074358
DKK 7.458116
DOP 63.288329
DZD 140.667513
EGP 53.089373
ERN 15.65231
ETB 129.556951
FJD 2.417812
FKP 0.826423
GBP 0.829839
GEL 2.932642
GGP 0.826423
GHS 15.278011
GIP 0.826423
GMD 75.13081
GNF 8979.181761
GTQ 8.008054
GYD 217.438617
HKD 8.11073
HNL 26.382472
HRK 7.484837
HTG 135.967895
HUF 414.03543
IDR 16874.546735
ILS 3.801242
IMP 0.826423
INR 88.646863
IQD 1361.479186
IRR 43917.772492
ISK 145.170484
JEP 0.826423
JMD 162.611401
JOD 0.739936
JPY 163.242118
KES 134.177659
KGS 90.783029
KHR 4176.549681
KMF 486.395546
KPW 939.138018
KRW 1509.320727
KWD 0.321342
KYD 0.866114
KZT 545.821836
LAK 22747.993892
LBP 93069.24896
LKR 305.14016
LRD 188.634826
LSL 19.134218
LTL 3.081147
LVL 0.631195
LYD 5.106672
MAD 10.460077
MDL 19.14352
MGA 4903.645375
MKD 61.5431
MMK 3389.206159
MNT 3545.769827
MOP 8.320295
MRU 41.33344
MUR 49.25222
MVR 16.052761
MWK 1802.137182
MXN 20.931771
MYR 4.704048
MZN 66.682732
NAD 19.134218
NGN 1616.92545
NIO 38.245033
NOK 11.810924
NPR 141.372606
NZD 1.846749
OMR 0.401533
PAB 1.039337
PEN 3.870109
PGK 4.214555
PHP 61.430102
PKR 289.288974
PLN 4.258903
PYG 8104.066586
QAR 3.788799
RON 4.979106
RSD 117.045935
RUB 107.244587
RWF 1448.790677
SAR 3.91966
SBD 8.748133
SCR 14.551486
SDG 627.662417
SEK 11.505215
SGD 1.414024
SHP 0.826423
SLE 23.787187
SLL 21881.410825
SOS 593.978174
SRD 36.65877
STD 21598.081035
SVC 9.094197
SYP 2621.793487
SZL 19.129518
THB 35.780887
TJS 11.369896
TMT 3.662641
TND 3.311736
TOP 2.44395
TRY 36.710281
TTD 7.053928
TWD 34.050018
TZS 2468.324859
UAH 43.588037
UGX 3812.501768
USD 1.043487
UYU 46.356101
UZS 13399.76356
VES 53.713772
VND 26561.970104
VUV 123.884906
WST 2.882934
XAF 656.043343
XAG 0.035154
XAU 0.000398
XCD 2.820076
XDR 0.792804
XOF 656.043343
XPF 119.331742
YER 261.263155
ZAR 19.096059
ZMK 9392.640903
ZMW 28.762786
ZWL 336.002496
  • CMSD

    0.0000

    23.56

    0%

  • BCC

    -0.2600

    122.75

    -0.21%

  • SCS

    -0.5800

    11.74

    -4.94%

  • NGG

    0.8200

    58.5

    +1.4%

  • RBGPF

    59.9600

    59.96

    +100%

  • GSK

    0.1700

    33.6

    +0.51%

  • BTI

    0.1131

    36.24

    +0.31%

  • CMSC

    0.0200

    23.86

    +0.08%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    7.27

    -0.14%

  • RIO

    -0.0900

    58.64

    -0.15%

  • RELX

    -0.3100

    45.47

    -0.68%

  • BCE

    0.0500

    23.16

    +0.22%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    8.39

    +0.12%

  • JRI

    0.1100

    12.06

    +0.91%

  • AZN

    0.9100

    65.35

    +1.39%

  • BP

    0.1900

    28.6

    +0.66%

'Selective' UAE courting US, not China, on AI: minister
'Selective' UAE courting US, not China, on AI: minister / Photo: Karim SAHIB - AFP

'Selective' UAE courting US, not China, on AI: minister

The United Arab Emirates is in "complete alignment" with the US on developing artificial intelligence, the oil-rich country's AI minister told AFP, confirming a shift away from China.

Text size:

Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, was speaking Tuesday after a state-linked Emirati AI firm secured a major investment from Microsoft, reportedly divesting Chinese interests as part of the deal.

"The honest truth is in the AI space today, I think we need to be selective of who we work with," Olama said in an interview, when asked about the UAE's dealings with Chinese AI firms.

"There is going to be a lot of discussions between the UAE and the US of what they are comfortable that we do with other players around the world and what they aren't comfortable (with)," he added.

"But on the AI front, I think there is going to be complete alignment between the UAE and the US."

Abu Dhabi-based G42, chaired by the president's brother and national security advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, won a $1.5 billion strategic investment from US tech giant Microsoft in April.

According to the New York Times and Bloomberg, the deal followed talks between the US and UAE governments where G42 agreed to drop Chinese partnerships in favour of American technology.

- AI 'top priority' -

AI has become a major battleground between the two powers as the United States moves to retain its leading position in the transformative field and to stop Beijing accessing sensitive data.

Olama, 34, who became the world's first AI minister in 2017, said the UAE -- which is striving to pivot its economy away from oil -- was "very bullish" on AI.

"AI is probably the top priority for the UAE in terms of our investments, in terms of our focus," he said.

Last month G42, powered by the world's biggest supercomputer, unveiled Falcon 2, an open-source generative model that seeks to rival American products such as OpenAI's ChatGPT.

G42 subsidiary Inception and Abu Dhabi's Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence have also produced Jais, billed as the world's highest quality Arabic large-language model.

Olama was confident the models would overcome any potential regulatory hurdles from the European Union, which has introduced a new AI law and has strict standards for data collection, including from government and healthcare sources.

"I think for Europe, for the bloc as a whole, you're going to see that the UAE is a partner that is willing to have a conversation to see how we can be an enabler for European companies to come to the UAE and operate," Olama said.

"But the EU AI law is very new. We still are going through it, understanding it, and seeing what needs to be done there," he added.

- 'Major challenge' -

Industry and government officials met at the AI Retreat on Tuesday, a brainstorming event at Dubai's ellipse-shaped, Arabic-inscribed Museum of the Future.

In a keynote, Olama said the UAE wanted to be a "global player" with companies that "take the world by storm".

Addressing questions about a possible gap in talent in the UAE, he remained upbeat.

"If you look at the progress that was made over the last five years and the snowballing of the talent that has moved into the UAE, I'm not worried that we'll be able to bridge that gap very quickly," he said.

The UAE, which wields some of the world's biggest sovereign wealth assets, is also intent on developing a semiconductor industry to profit from rising demand for AI chips.

"There are definitely discussions and we are open to partnering with the right partners wherever they come from, whether it's in Europe or the US," Olama said.

In response to reports that the US is slowing exports of AI chips to countries in the region, he commented: "We would love to not be put in a bucket with other countries in this domain."

"I am hopeful and I do believe that we are going to come up with a solution that is going to meet the requirements of all parties," the minister added.

F.Schneider--NZN