Microsoft’s recent $1.5 billion investment in G42, an artificial intelligence group in Abu Dhabi, is a big step forward and shows how much is involved in the technology area. The investment is implied the recent collaboration of the United States and the United Arab Emirates in AI technology.
The contract contains the provision that Microsoft will obtain a minor share in G42 and will be represented on the board by Brad Smith, a vice-chair and president of the company. This change comes after G42 reshuffled its hardware suppliers of Chinese origin, the move securing its place under the surveillance of US congressmen.
This investment will surely boost Abu Dhabi’s role as one of the the leading AI hubs marking the oil rich emirate’s technological ambitions. It also pinpoints a significant change in the status of the Gulf region when it comes to the Silicon Valley circles from just being a source of funding to becoming a genuine technology collaborator.
Directed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the super-cabinet secretary/national security adviser to the UAE who is in possession of a daunting business footprint, the UAE G42 was instrumental in Abu Dhabi’s AI aspirations. Mubadala, the sovereign investor, is at the core of the firm providing AI technological solutions in Dubai.
G42, the company which has a very wide range of activities from data centers to healthcare, is notably the owner of Jais, an Arabic alternative of a very powerful high-tech language system which is called.“GPT-3”. Besides the fact that Abu Dhabi has the boldest and most profitable initiatives that have given the AI leaders the reason to move to the region. The setting up of MGX, an investment company dedicated to find technological solutions for challenges faced at present time, is a clear demonstration of Abu Dhabi’s ambition to contribute towards the development of technology.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has made several trips to the region including this month. His conversations with UAE investors, sheikh Tahnoon included, are the focus of his agendas. There will be meetings about raising the number of chips that can be manufactured, a project that could generate investments estimated to be over billions dollars.
Out of Seattle, Washington State, Microsoft has come out as OpenAI’s primary partner, thanks to their large investment of $13 billion in the startup. This is majorly in kind as credits for Microsoft’s cloud services.
Microsoft is proactively defending its position in the AI short takes, especially after the debut of ChatGPT chatbot by OpenAI in November 2022. The company considers its investment in G42 as a strategic step that helped it to enlarge the company’s portfolio into other regions. As said by the vice-chair and president of Microsoft, Brad Smith, “We envision AI to becoming common services in the Global South. We also believe that by joining forces we can smooth the adoption of AI thereby accelerating its introduction in the Global South.”
