Federico Maccioni
DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates and the United States will invest more in artificial intelligence as part of a strategic partnership, UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence Omar Sultan Al Olama said on Tuesday.
The United Arab Emirates, led by government-backed company G42, aims to become a world leader in artificial intelligence and is investing heavily in it to lend a hand the Gulf country diversify away from oil.
The stakes have increased as neighboring Saudi Arabia has begun positioning itself as a potential center for artificial intelligence activities outside the United States.
“In terms of our investments, since the US now considers the UAE as a strategic partner and the UAE reciprocates by recognizing the US as a strategic partner, more transactions will naturally occur,” Al Olama told Reuters on the sidelines. events in Dubai.
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Microsoft will invest $1.5 billion in G42, the two companies announced last month, giving the US giant a minority stake and a seat on the board and enabling the two companies to deepen their ties.
Under the deal, which both companies said was backed by security assurances to the U.S. and UAE governments, G42 will utilize Microsoft’s cloud services to run its AI applications.
The partnership follows Washington’s efforts to curb Beijing’s technological advances, in which the United States added four Chinese companies to an export blacklist to acquire AI chips for China’s military.
Asked about the UAE’s further potential divestment of Chinese technology companies, Al Olama said: “The UAE is a neutral country and in that sense, we will be a country that will enable the world to do business in the UAE.”
Al Olama said a diversified energy mix, including nuclear power, is key to attracting AI investment to the minuscule Gulf country.
“We will have the opportunity to expand our energy infrastructure based on the demand for data centers,” said the minister.
That includes discussions about diminutive modular nuclear reactors, but there are no concrete plans yet, he said.
As of 2021, the United Arab Emirates operates a nuclear power plant built in South Korea. The country also plans to announce a tender for four more nuclear reactors this year, Reuters reported last month, citing three sources.
On Tuesday, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said during a visit to Abu Dhabi that Paris is open to the United Arab Emirates investing in its nuclear energy industry. He also said that the two countries will sign a strategic partnership on artificial intelligence.
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