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The United Arab Emirates leader will meet with US President Joe Biden in Washington on Monday to debate cooperation on artificial intelligence because the Gulf state seeks to secure easier access to advanced technology from the US.
The meeting comes during Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan's first official trip to the United States in seven years and underscores his determination to realize White House support for his efforts to remodel the UAE into a frontrunner in artificial intelligence.
The United Arab Emirates is one among the United States' most vital allies within the Middle East, but relations with it have been strained at times lately. Talks on a proper security pact with Washington have stalled, and Abu Dhabi has been furious at what it sees as a lukewarm US response to attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on the UAE capital in 2022.
But AI has injected recent energy into the connection. Oil-rich Abu Dhabi has put AI at the guts of its plan to maneuver away from fossil fuel exports and has made the strategic decision to partner with American firms that produce cutting-edge technology.
“AI and recent developments in cloud computing, etc. will change the face of the world,” Anwar Gargash, Sheikh Mohamed's diplomatic adviser, told reporters in Dubai last week. “We cannot miss out on this wave of technological breakthroughs.”
“If we consider that hydrocarbons are slowly but surely in decline, we want to switch the source of income with something else,” he added.
However, last 12 months the US added the Gulf states to an inventory of nations barred from freely importing cutting-edge US-made AI chips over concerns that technology could leak to China. This means firms must apply for licenses to export the chips, and this process has held up the AI plans of some UAE firms.
Two people briefed on the UAE's plans said they expected the 2 presidents to agree on a document setting out a comprehensive framework for U.S.-UAE cooperation on AI.
One of the informants said the UAE desired to draw up a “roadmap” ahead of the upcoming US election “to make sure progress … regardless of which president takes office in January.”
The person added that authorities were aiming to vary the UAE's export designation to facilitate access to chips.
Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, which invested $1.5 billion in G42, the UAE's primary AI group, in April, told the FT last week that “clarity is emerging” on export controls, even when it has “taken several months to sort every part out”.
Smith added that export applications from Microsoft and other technology firms usually are not yet complete but are “near being accomplished.”
In an indication of the UAE's desire to deepen its ties with US firms, G42 announced last week that it was partnering with Nvidia, the US company that makes chips key to artificial intelligence, on a weather forecasting initiative.
US firms that wish to finance expensive AI projects are also pleased concerning the petrodollars from Abu Dhabi.
MGX, a brand new Abu Dhabi-based investment vehicle specializing in artificial intelligence, announced last week that it’s teaming up with asset manager BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners and Microsoft to launch a $30 billion fund to take a position in data centers and the energy to run them.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the UAE's national security adviser and chairman of the G42, visited Washington in June and spearheaded the UAE's efforts to secure US support for its AI ambitions.
The FT had previously reported that OpenAI founders Sam Altman and Sheikh Tahnoon were in talks to fund an ambitious chip manufacturing project.
Gargash said Sheikh Tahnoon has “good knowledge of the technical field,” which could help the UAE's negotiations with U.S. officials and leaders. “When he sits down with someone like Altman or whoever, he really speaks his language,” Gargash said.
