Our AI ambitions make headlines as Gitex kicks off

It’s a relatively quiet day for the UAE in the global press, save for Gitex live in Dubai this week, and Bloomberg is highlighting the UAE’s growing AI ambitions. State-backed G42 launched Jais, a large Arabic language model and chatbot, while Abu Dhabi introduced an updated Falcon model, to compete with giants like OpenAI’s GPT and Meta’s Llama. This surge in AI innovation has sparked a rivalry with Saudi Arabia, as both countries race to establish massive data centers to strengthen their AI infrastructures.

The UAE is also expanding investments abroad, with Damac Group investing USD 1 bn in data centers in Thailand and data center developer Yondr, backed by Mubadala, reportedly seeking USD 500 mn in debt for a project in Malaysia.