This was the week that the UAE retained its position as the world leader in AI adoption, while Abu Dhabi and Dubai ranked among the top five cities in EMEA for artificial intelligence.
In other news, Microsoft announced billions of dollars in additional Gulf AI and cloud investment; Abu Dhabi revealed plans to host what organisers describe as the world’s largest AI summit; the UAE and Lebanon agreed to train one million people in artificial intelligence; and Estithmar Holding secured a $137 million contract to build a new MEEZA data centre in Qatar.
And if you’re interested in partnering with with Middle East AI News to reach AI decision-makers across MENA, we’re in the process of finalising our plans for the last quarter of 2026. Get in touch via our advertising page.
Here are this week’s biggest AI news stories!
Monday, September 21st
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🔥 Meta launches UAE wearables AI programme
Meta Open Studio for AI wearables in collaboration with Cyber Security Council
🔥 TokenAI open-sources Horus Taleeq Arabic language model
New Horus Taleeq trained on 6 billion Arabic tokens; open under MIT licence
Tuesday, September 22nd
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🔥 New research finds that best AI models fail most UAV decisions
UAE researchers test 29 AI models, new benchmark exposes gaps in AI judgement
Wednesday, September 23rd
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🔥 Abu Dhabi to host world’s largest AI summit
Mistral, Boston Dynamics head to Abu Dhabi, sold-out expo draws 60 countries
Thursday, September 24th
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🔥 Microsoft adds $2 billion to Gulf AI spending
Microsoft to invest $10+ billion in Gulf AI, cloud infrastructure
Friday, September 25th
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🔥 UAE retains top world AI use ranking
Global AI adoption hits 18.8%, Saudi Arabia jumps five places to 25th
🔥 Estithmar wins $137 million Qatar data centre construction deal
Elegancia to build new MEEZA data centre; facility targets hyperscale
🔥 UAE, Lebanon agree to train one million AI experts
UAE, Lebanon to train AI experts, with focus on prompt engineering, GenAI
Saturday, September 26th
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🔥 Abu Dhabi, Dubai rank in EMEA top five by AI Cities Index
Abu Dhabi ranks as 11th global AI city, Dubai tops EMEA on public investment
[ This summary was AI written and human edited ]

