February 15, 2024 at 9:59 AM GMT
The United Arab Emirates is poised to take center stage in testing and regulating artificial intelligence technology on a global scale, according to a senior official, echoing sentiments expressed by OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman earlier this week.
Altman’s assertion that the UAE could evolve into the “epicenter for practical regulation” underscores the nation’s significant role in the AI arena, noted the UAE’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Omar Al Olama, during an interview with Bloomberg at the World Government Summit in Dubai on Thursday. “This presents an opportunity I personally aspire to see materialize, and it’s a goal we are committed to pursuing.”
At the same summit, Altman, who is actively seeking investors in the Middle East, proposed that the Gulf nation could function as the world’s “regulatory sandbox,” a platform for trialing AI technologies and subsequently crafting global regulations governing their application.
While the UAE has made substantial investments in AI and prioritized it as a cornerstone of its policies, its connections to China have prompted scrutiny in the US. Earlier this week, Emirati AI firm G42 announced plans to scale down its operations in China in response to concerns raised by Washington.
Al Olama emphasized the UAE’s robust partnership with the US, stating, “Our technological framework and infrastructure are deeply intertwined with American companies, and that’s unlikely to change in the near future.”
Nevertheless, the minister affirmed that cooperation with Chinese firms remains a possibility. “I don’t believe we can exclusively rely on one and ignore the other,” he remarked.
A significant influx of tech professionals since 2021 has fueled the Gulf state’s aspirations in AI. As of September, the number of individuals engaged in AI or AI-related sectors reached 120,000, a substantial increase from the 30,000 recorded just two years prior, according to Al Olama.