AI offers UAE path to become global supplier of intelligence, G42 CEO tells Dubai summit

The United Arab Emirates can use artificial intelligence to reposition itself as a worldwide exporter of intelligence rather than energy, according to the chief executive of Abu Dhabi-based technology group G42.

Peng Xiao said the country’s energy resources could be converted into computing power capable of providing AI services beyond its borders. He made the remarks during the Dubai AI Festival on Monday.

“I think our ambition is to go from an energy exporter to become an intelligence exporter,” Mr Xiao said.

He pointed to the UAE’s access to reliable energy and its speed in delivering computing infrastructure as factors that could help meet international demand for AI services. G42 is building a five-gigawatt AI campus in Abu Dhabi that includes the one-gigawatt Stargate UAE project developed with partners such as OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco and SoftBank.

“Many of our American partners are actually coming to our region, coming to our country to get access to compute capacity, because we are able to deliver now,” he said.

The UAE’s connectivity would allow services from the planned infrastructure to reach a potential user base of about four billion people, Mr Xiao added.

Rethinking human values

Mr Xiao argued that humans should fundamentally reconsider what they value, including the ability to think and use tools, because AI can now perform those tasks better. He strongly suggested that AI has distilled all of humanity’s knowledge.

“AI can already out-think us,” he said.

Because of that, he said people should instead value aspects such as human connection and creativity.

“We need to think fundamentally about our lifestyle and how to coexist and also even thrive in the age where very likely AI will be doing most of the thinking for us,” he said.

Government’s vision for AI

Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for AI, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, addressed the forum in Dubai on Monday. He said the government must ensure every worker sees AI as “an enabler and a force multiplier, rather than a displacer for them in the workplace”.

“We understand that there is going to be disruption on the horizon, disruption to the private sector, disruption to governments,” the minister said.

He added that the UAE leadership was reviewing its AI plans every six months, compared with previously doing so annually. Over the years the focus has shifted from computer vision and self-driving cars in 2017, to large language models in 2022, followed by agents capable of carrying out tasks on a user’s behalf.

“What we understood from that as a nation is that we need to be agile,” Mr Al Olama said.

The aim is to improve quality of life, allowing people and organisations to increase their output with a corresponding rise in population.

“So, a nation like the UAE, with a population of around 10 million people can have the impact of a nation of 50 million people or 100 million people, and that’s our ambition,” he said. “To ensure that every single person that works here, every single person that lives here, and every single person that visits the UAE is able to multiply their output through this technology.”

In April, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, launched a plan to introduce agentic AI across half of federal government sectors, from services to operations, within two years. It includes training government employees to use AI tools.

“He expected us to re-engineer government processes and services from scratch to allow for that transformation to happen,” Mr Al Olama said.

Agility and competitive advantage

The minister cautioned that success would depend on how effectively organisations used AI rather than simply how much computing power they consumed. Businesses needed to identify advantages that competitors could not easily copy. Those relying on public models and cloud services risked being displaced, replaced or driven to extinction, he warned.

“My advice to all of you is try to understand what this technology can do for you and what it can do to you.”

“Many people ask me what Dubai stands for, and I always say Dubai stands for Dubai Understands Business and Artificial Intelligence.”