Sam Altman tour; UAE 'freight mobility grid'
Middle East AI News weekly news digest...
Good morning!
Welcome to this week’s Middle East AI News!
Another crazy week for AI and emerging tech across the region, of course, including a lot of buzz surrounding OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s visit to the region!
Oman has announced a national AI initiative; Dubai is planning an AI-focused tech hub to encourage startups and global AI firms; the UAE AI office launches a generative AI competition to identify great tools for teachers; and EinRide, working with the UAE government, plans to introduce a freight mobility grid with thousands of electric trucks, including autonomous vehicles.
You’ll also find media reports from Israel, Jordan, Qatar and the UAE covering Sam Altman’s tour of the region. Meanwhile, in my featured story I ask why Altman chose to make the effort to visit four Middle East countries in three days! (you’ll also find the video links to recordings of his events at the end of my article).
Scroll down for more AI news from across the region!
Thanks for reading!
/Carrington
FEATURED
Sam Altman's Middle East tour
#Israel #Jordan #Qatar #UAE #OpenAI - Did Sam Altman's whistle-stop tour of the Middle East have purpose? The OpenAI CEO visited Israel, Jordan, Qatar and the UAE in quick succession. His visit was so brief and his schedule so punishing, that it does make one wonder what he had in mind when planning this trip to the region. (Middle East AI News)
Sam’s Tour News
Sam Altman praises Abu Dhabi's early focus on AI
#UAE #AbuDhabi - OpenAI CEO Sam Altman highlighted Abu Dhabi's early emphasis on artificial intelligence in his global tour promoting the safety and utility of AI. Altman praised the UAE's role in fostering the development of secure AI. (The National)
Maktoum bin Mohammed discusses AI with OpenAI CEO
#UAE #Dubai- Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, met with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to explore partnerships to foster the development of AI-driven tech solutions in the UAE. (Emirates News Agency)
Israel to play 'huge role' in AI revolution, says Altman
#Israel #TelAviv - Sam Altman expressed confidence in Israel's role in the upcoming AI revolution, highlighting the nation's talent pool and the drive of its entrepreneurs. Altman was speaking at an event at Tel Aviv University. (Times of Israel)
OpenAI CEO Highlights AI's Potential
#Jordan #Amman - Sam Altman underscored the transformative potential of AI at a public event in Amman organised by Xpand. The head of the company behind ChatGPT encouraged innovators to harness AI to amplify the global impact of their start-ups. (Jordan Times)
AI can solve societal problems: ChatGPT creator
#Qatar #Doha - Sam Altman spoke at Qatar Foundation's Education City Speaker Series, where he discussed AI's potential to solve major societal problems like climate change, disease, and education. (Gulf Times)
National AI Strategy
RO10 million AI initiative to boost Omani economy
#Oman #AI - Oman's Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology unveiled the RO10 million ($26m) 'National Initiative to Empower the National Economy Enhanced by AI' to stimulate investment and integrate AI into economic sectors. (Muscat Daily)
FDI
Dubai plans AI tech hub
#UAE #freezones - Dubai is planning to set up the first integrated centre dedicated to AI, aiming to draw in global AI companies and institutions. According to Gulf Today sources, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) will be the hub for this initiative, with an opening planned for the second half of this year. (Gulf Today)
LLMs
TII launches Falcon LLM on Amazon SageMaker
#UAE #Falcon40B - Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII) has launched Falcon LLM, a foundational large language model with 40 billion parameters, trained on Amazon SageMaker from AWS. Open-sourcing Falcon 40B aims to cater to unique user needs. (Amazon Web Services)
The Falcon has landed
#Global #Falcon40B - Technology Innovation Institute (TII) in Abu Dhabi created Falcon, a new family of language models. The Falcon-40B is a ‘truly open’ model with capabilities rivaling many closed-source models, now released under the Apache 2.0 licence. (Hugging Face)
Falcon 40B invites innovative AI proposals
#UAE #Falcon40B - Falcon 40B, the top-ranked open-source AI model, has called for proposals from scientists and entrepreneurs to deploy the model for novel use cases. The initiative from Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII) offers compute power to the most exceptional project ideas. (Emirates News Agency)
UAE AI office announces generative AI competition
#UAE #genAI - UAE's AI Office, in partnership with the Digital School, has launched the first generative AI competition. The competition seeks innovative AI tools like ChatGPT to assist teachers in creating customised lesson plans. (MOCA)
TDRA rolls out AI services to boost digital transformation
#UAE #ChatGPT - The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) has initiated a range of AI services to foster digital transformation. These include ‘Name Ideas’, an innovative service using ChatGPT to help entrepreneurs pick suitable “.ae” domain names. (Emirates News Agency)
Industry 4.0
Edge and MoIAT launch digital transformation platform
#UAE #industry4 - The Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology and Edge have jointly launched 'Talk 4.0', a platform to encourage digital transformation and sustainable practices through talks, workshops, and seminars. (The National)
Education
MBZUAI grads set to lead high-tech future
#UAE #MBZUAI - The Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence's graduating class has been urged to harness AI's ‘profound potential’. AI is estimated to contribute $320 billion to the Middle East economy by 2030. (The National)
Oman launches AI summer programme
#Oman #education - The Musna’atna Summer Programme for Science and Artificial Intelligence launched on June 4, offering workshops on modern technologies, the fourth industrial revolution, and innovative applications. (Times of Oman)
Autonomous Vehicles
Einride to drive e-mobility in the Middle East
#UAE #freight - Einride, in partnership with the UAE’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, plans to introduce 2,000 electric trucks and 200 autonomous trucks, forming a 550-kilometre ‘freight mobility grid’ across Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah. (Electric Drives)
Dubai included in GM’s $50bn driverless car plans
#UAE #robotaxis - General Motors' CEO, Mary Barra, discusses the potential of GM's Cruise autonomous vehicle unit, which she expects to generate $50 billion annual revenue by 2030, with plans to deploy outside the USA, in Dubai and Japan. (AGBi)
Dubai Police's driverless patrols impress Sheikh Saif
#UAE #robotics - Dubai Police unveils autonomous patrol vehicles, developed in collaboration with Micropolis Robotics, featuring AI technologies for public safety and security. The project was reviewed by Lt. General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan. (Khaleej Times)
Robot takeaway driver makes 100 weekly deliveries
#UAE #lastmile - A fleet of robots developed by ‘Self Driving Group’* is making roughly 100 food deliveries weekly in Dubai. This service emerged from a successful three-month trial that started in February. (The National)
* It was not made clear in the story, but this could possibly be ‘Yandex Self Driving Group’.
Healthcare
AI Office explores precision medicine
#UAE #precisionmedicine - Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, stressed the UAE government's commitment to harness AI and digital technology for healthcare innovation, at a session on "Accelerating Innovation with Precision Medicine", organised in partnership with Dell Technologies. (Emirates News Agency)
Robotics
National robotics competition concludes in Bahrain
#Bahrain #robotics - The 12th Bahrain National Robotics Competition, organized by the Ministry of Education and Britus Education, recently concluded. The contest, aimed at encouraging students to demonstrate their innovative ideas in robotics and artificial intelligence, saw increased participation. (BNA)
GITEX Africa
GITEX Africa showcases AI solutions for continent
#Morocco #AI - The inaugural GITEX Africa, held in Marrakech, presented AI-driven tech solutions aimed at the African market. The event explored how AI, including tools like ChatGPT, can enhance various fields, such as cybersecurity and education. (VOA Africa)