Presight.ai announces IPO; KSA sets 2030 AV goal

Middle East AI News weekly news digest...

Good morning!

Here’s your weekly Middle East AI News!

The big news of the week is that G42 has annouced its intention to IPO its big data analytics company Presight.ai and raise an estimated AED 1.82 billion ($495.6m) via a listing on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX). Bayanat.AI (another G42 company) became the first IT company to list on ADX last October. So, the new IPO could be another win for G42 and for Abu Dhabi as it tried to attract global tech scaleups.

Meanwhile, the World Police Summit took place in Dubai this week, with dozens of technology firms showcasing AI, robotics, drone systems and other high tech security solutions. See below for some highlights.

And Saudi Arabia is aiming for 15% autonomous public transport by 2030, according to a comment made by a government official in an Arthur D. Little newsletter. How’s that 15% calculated? - and many other questions, unanswered so far.

Lastly, I should mention ‘Dear AI’, a great new initiaive from KAUST to highlight and help tackly gender bias in AI, in particular bias that affects Saudi Arabia and the region. Scroll to the end of the newsletter to find out more.

Thanks for reading!

/Carrington

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IPO

G42's Presight AI announces ADX IPO

#UAE #IPO - Abu Dhabi AI, cloud computing company and manager of the 42X Fund G42 has annouced its intention to IPO its big data analytics company Presight.ai and raise an estimated AED 1.82 billion ($495.6m). According to Bloomberg, G42 is considerig at least six IPOs from its group companies, including Presight. (Zawya)

Autonomous Vehicles

Saudi Arabia aims for 15% autonomous public vehicles

#Saudi #AVs - Saudi Arabia aims to have 15% of its public transport vehicles as autonomous by 2030, as the kingdom seeks to be a leader in the future generation of transport, according to comments made by deputy of transport enablement at the Saudi Transport General Authority in the latest edition of Arthur D Little's Autonomous Mobility Journal. (The National)

Startups

First unicorn from Egypt joins the board in February

#Egypt #Crunchbase - Cairo-based fintech MNT-Halan, which provides digital wallets and personal finance serfvices, is one of five companies to join The Crunchbase Unicorn Board in February. The Crunchbase Unicorn Board is a curated list of the most valuable private companies in the world. (Crunchbase)

Education

UAE working on ‘GPT-powered AI tutors’ to transform education

#UAE #ChatGPT - The UAE Ministry of Education plans to introduce AI tutor apps leveraging technologies like ChatGPT into UAE schools, according to the Minister of Education Ahmad Al Falasi speaking at the Alef Education Summit in Dubai last week. (The National)

Jordan's 18th National Robotics Competition launched

#Jordan #robotics - Jordan's 18th National Robotics Competition (NRC) kicked-off on Saturday, organized by King Hussein Foundation's Jubilee Center for Excellence in Education (JCEE), in cooperation with Ministry of Education. 68 teams from public and private schools and scientific centers are taking part in the championship. (Petra)

Winners of first Emirates Robotics Competition announced

#UAE #robotics - Dubai Future Labs (DFL) an initiative of Dubai Future Foundation (DFF), in partnership with Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Khalifa University (KU) has announced the winners of the first edition of Emirates Robotics Competition. (Emirates News Agency)

Exiled Afghan girls robotics team makes a home in Qatar

#Afghanistan #Qatar #robotics - One of the newest members of the pioneering Afghan girls robotics team wants the world to know that women in her homeland are still striving for their rights and thirsting for education. (NBC)

Justice

Saudi Arabia Seeks Developing Judicial Sector with AI

#Saudi #justice - The Saudi government has granted three foreign law firms licences to operate in the Kingdom as it seeks developing the justice sector and anticipates the future of technologies and artificial intelligence in the courts. (Asharq Al Awsat)

Digital Transformation

70 e-services, 9 smart apps used at Grand Mosque

#Saudi #Mecca - The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques is using 70 electronic services and nine smart applications. The mosque also uses robots for sterilisation, air freshening, and distributing water to pilgrims. (Saudi Gazette)

Agritech

Morocco’s first AI-driven cannabis R&D

#Morocco #cannabis - Euromed University of Fez (UEMF) along with CannaKesh and Original Breeders League are working to develop a comprehensive, first-of-its-kind AI-driven cannabis agriculture research and development program. The R&D program is set to commence as early as the second quarter of 2023. (WFLA)

World Police Summit 2023

UAE firm unveils AI-equipped undercover police vehicle

#UAE #security - Abu Dhabi transport specialist Tatweer showcased a high-tech undercover police car packed with AI technologies at the World Police Summit 2023 this week. The vehicled uses computer vision and facial recognition to identify nearby people and vehicles. (Khaleej Times)

Airobotics launches new Iron Drone counter-drone system

#UAE #counterdrone - Drone services firm Airobotics launched an innovative counter-drone system at the World Police Summit in Dubai. A result of the recent acquisition of startup Iron Drone, the system is uses a fully-automated, AI-powered drone capable of homing on hostile drones and apprehending them. (Businesswire)

Defence

EDGE & UAVOS to establish joint R&D centre

#UAE #UAS - EDGE's GradeOne has signed an MoU with unmanned aerial systems developer UAVOS to create a joint research and development centre for autonomous solutions and weapon systems. the centre will initially focus on the development of laser-based counter UAV solutions and high-speed aerial targets for the region. (Emirates News Agency)

AI Bias

KAUST launches ‘Dear AI’ to combat gender bias

#Saudi #bias - King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is launching "Dear AI," an International Women's Day campaign and hackathon to tackle gender bias and the under-representation of women, Saudi and Arab people in AI software. (KAUST)