Microsoft and G42, an artificial intelligence company based in the United Arab Emirates, announced on Tuesday the establishment of two centers in Abu Dhabi focused on "responsible" AI initiatives. The UAE, under the leadership of government-backed G42, is aiming to become a global AI leader and is heavily investing in the sector to diversify its economy away from oil.
The collaboration builds on their April partnership, where Microsoft committed $1.5 billion in investment to the Emirati firm. The first center will unite academic researchers and AI practitioners from the private sector to develop and disseminate best practices in responsible AI. The second center will concentrate on tasks such as creating large language models—computer programs that utilize extensive text databases to generate responses to queries—for "underrepresented languages".
Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake are stakeholders in G42, whose chairman, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, serves as the UAE's national security advisor and is the brother of the president. Earlier this year, G42 divested its investments in China. At the time of the Microsoft partnership, both companies emphasized that the deal was supported by assurances to the U.S. and UAE governments regarding security.
Microsoft and G42 stated on Tuesday that the centers will strive to ensure that "generative AI models and applications are developed, deployed, and used safely". The firms also noted that G42 and its affiliates do not conduct business with any entity listed on a U.S. government list of parties subject to certain export, re-export, or transfer restrictions.
