(Dubai) The United Arab Emirates is “completely aligned” with the United States in developing artificial intelligence (AI), the oil-rich country’s AI minister told AFP on Tuesday, confirming thus an abandonment of Washington’s Chinese rival.
“In the field of AI today […] we have to be selective about who we work with,” Omar al-Olama said in an interview, after a company specializing in this sector obtained a major investment from Microsoft, renouncing an offer from Beijing.
“There is going to be a lot of discussion between the UAE and the United States” about choosing partners in this area “but on the AI front, I think there will be complete alignment between the Emirates United Arabs and the United States”, estimated the 34-year-old man, the world’s first AI minister, appointed in 2017 by this Gulf country which aims to become one of the world leaders in this sector. by 2031.
In April, American giant Microsoft announced a $1.5 billion investment in G42, an AI company controlled by Tahnoon bin Zayed, national security adviser and brother of the Emirati president.
According to the New York Times and Bloomberg, the deal follows negotiations between Washington and Abu Dhabi, during which G42 agreed to abandon Chinese partnerships in favor of American technology.
AI has become a major area of confrontation between the two powers, with the United States seeking to maintain its leading position in this area and prevent Beijing from accessing sensitive data.
Last month, G42, courtesy of the world’s largest supercomputer, unveiled Falcon 2, an open source model that rivals US products such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Mr. Olama believes that open source development models, i.e. AI with open source code, would overcome all regulatory hurdles in the European Union, which has introduced a new AI law and has strict standards for data collection, including from government and health care sources.
“But EU AI law is very new. We are still looking at it, understanding it and seeing what needs to be done in this area,” he added.
Representatives from industry and government met on Tuesday at the AI Retreat, a think tank event in Dubai, where the minister said the UAE wanted to be a “global player”.
The Emirates also intends to produce a semiconductor industry to take advantage of the growing demand for AI chips.
“There are certainly discussions and we are open to collaborating with the right partners, wherever they come from, whether in Europe or the United States,” he said.
Following reports that Washington would restrict the export of AI chips to countries in the region, he said: “We would like not to be lumped in with other countries in this area.”