MGX joins $100b data centre fund; Saudi PDPL to be enforced
MGX joins $100b data centre fund; Saudi PDPL to be enforced
Middle East AI News weekly digest...
Good morning!
Welcome to this week’s Middle East AI News, brought to you by OnDemand, an innovative AI platform which enables you to fast-track AI product development and seamlessly integrate AI and IoT apps into your environment - now with more than 50,000 users!
Another busy week in Middle East AI! Abu Dhabi’s AI investment fund MGX joins consortium to invest in global data infrastructure; G42 and Microsoft open a Responsible AI centre and an AI for Good Lab in Abu Dhabi; Dubai R&D announces research grants for AI and robotics companies; KAUST opens GenAI centre of excellence; and the 12 months grace period for organisations to comply with Saudi Arabia’s Personal Data Protection Law has ended!
Scroll down to read all the news!
I’m hosting Middle East AI News LIVE - THURSDAY DEEP DIVE via LinkedIn later today at 12 noon KSA | 1pm UAE time | 9am GMT. Please tune in!
This week I’ll be talking to Osama El-Masry, Middle East Lead - Data Responsibility & Privacy at Cognizant about Saudi Arabia’s Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) and the end of the initial 12 month grace period for compliance!
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Data Centres
BlackRock, GIP, MGX & Microsoft launch $100 billion AI infrastructure fund
#UAE #infrastructure – BlackRock, MGX, Microsoft, and Global Infrastructure Partners have launched a $100 billion partnership to invest in AI data centres and energy infrastructure. NVIDIA will provide expertise for AI centres, while the consortium aims to raise $30 billion in private equity soon. (Middle East AI News)
Politico report highlights UAE, Saudi data centre leadership
#Saudi #data – A new report from POLITICO, sponsored by G42, highlights UAE and Saudi Arabia as regional leaders in data centre growth. The report also ranks Saudi Arabia 13th globally in supercomputing power. (POLITICO)
Saudi PDPL
Saudi Personal Data Protection Law now fully enforceable
#Saudi #data – Saudi Arabia’s Personal Data Protection Law came into full effect last Saturday. The law, effective since September 2023, provided a 12-month window for compliance, with full enforcement beginning this month. (Middle East AI News)
LLM Evaluation
Saudi launches Arabic language index for AI models
#Saudi #Arabic – Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language and Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) have launched the Balsam Index, an Arabic language index for evaluating AI models, providing crucial data for assessing Arabic performance in large language models. (Middle East AI News)
G42’s M42 unveils Medic LLM evaluation framework
#UAE #healthcare – G42’s healthcare group M42 has developed Medic, a framework for evaluating large language models in clinical use. It assesses areas such as ethics, bias, and medical reasoning, ensuring AI models are safe and effective for healthcare. M42 recently released V2 of it Med42 clinical LLM. (Middle East AI News)
CoEs
G42, Microsoft launch AI Centres in Abu Dhabi
#UAE #AI – G42 and Microsoft will establish a Responsible AI Centre in Abu Dhabi, collaborating with the emirate’s Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology Council to develop best practices for AI use in the Middle East and the Global South. Microsoft will also bring its AI for Good Lab to Abu Dhabi. (Middle East AI News)
KAUST launches four new Centres of Excellence
#Saudi #R&D – King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has launched four Centres of Excellence focused on generative AI, renewable energy, sustainable food security, and smart health, to drive innovation in key sectors. (SPA)
Novation City opens AI Innovation Hub
#Tunisia #innovation – A new AI innovation hub has opened in Tunisia’s Novation City, in collaboration with NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute. The hub offers access to courses on generative AI and data science as part of NVIDIA’s plan to train 100,000 African developers over three years. (NVIDIA Blog)
Education
Saudi Arabia launches One Million Saudis in AI initiative
#Saudi #education – Saudi Arabia has launched the One Million Saudis in AI initiative, aiming to upskill one million citizens in AI through an online learning portal. The programme was launched by SDAIA in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Human Resources. (SAMAI)
NextEra aims to overhaul Egypt’s education system with AI
#Egypt #education - A partnership between UAE-based EYouth and a group of Egyptian businessmen aims to modernise the educational landscape in Egypt with an investment of $42 million (EGP2 billion). NextEra Education will use AI to overhauling traditional curricula, and collaborating with prestigious international universities to bring world-class education to Egypt. (WAMDA)
Startups
Idris Elba stars in UAE’s ‘Bring your impossible’ video
#UAE #investment – British actor Idris Elba stars in a new promotional video for the UAE, encouraging entrepreneurs to “bring your impossible” to the Emirates. The video was shared via X.com by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. (The National)
Funding & investment
MGX in talks to invest in OpenAI funding round
#UAE #LLMs – Abu Dhabi’s AI investment fund MGX is reportedly in talks to invest in OpenAI’s next funding round, which aims to raise $6.5 billion. Discussions with Abu Dhabi have been ongoing since Sam Altman’s visit to the UAE in 2023. (Zawya)
Dubai to fund 20 AI and robotics R&D projects
#UAE #research – Dubai has launched the Research, Development, and Innovation Grant Initiative, funding up to 20 AI and robotics research projects, under Dubai Future Foundation’s Dubai Research and Development Programme. The initiative prioritises cognitive cities, healthcare, and life sciences. (Middle East AI News)
Digital transformation
AI for Business Institute opens at Dubai Silicon Oasis
#UAE #AI – A new AI for Business Institute has opened at Dubai Silicon Oasis to support AI adoption in organisations. With a board including leaders from Oracle and World Wide Technology, it offers AI maturity assessments, certifications, and training. (Middle East AI News)
Sharjah issues world’s first AI-powered trade licence
#UAE #entrepreneurship – Sharjah has launched the first-ever AI-powered trade licence, allowing entrepreneurs to complete the process in under five minutes. The initiative was announced at the Sharjah Investment Forum. (WAM)
Agriculture
233 teams compete in Saudi AI hackathon for date palms
#Saudi #agriculture – Saudi Arabia is hosting an AI hackathon with 233 teams developing solutions for date palm cultivation and production. Held during the Medina Dates Season, the event offers SAR 900,000 in prizes ($200,000). (Gulf News)
[ This newsletter was AI edited & human edited ]