This week's top stories — 3-9 Aug
This was the week that the Middle East got superfast access to OpenAI’s new gpt-oss models on Day Zero via GroqCloud servers in Saudi Arabia.
In other news, Technology Innovation Institute released a new STEM evaluation benchmark for Arabic-capable LLMs; a consortium led by Khalifa University launched TelecomGPT-Arabic; and Gartner released a forecast for MENA’s IT spending 2025-2026 severely disrupted by the impact of AI on demand.
Here are this weeks biggest AI news stories!
Sunday, August 3rd
🔥 Abu Dhabi's TII releases new Arabic STEM AI benchmark
New TII benchmark addresses critical Arabic language gaps in STEM and coding
Monday, August 4th
🔊 Listen to Monday’s Daily News Minute
🔥 AI infrastructure demand shifts MENA IT spending - Gartner
Investment in data centre infrastructure estimated to grow by 69% in 2025
🔥 Saudi MCIT launches AdopTech Phase Three
Public-private collaboration drives Industry 4.0 innovation
Tuesday, August 5th
🔊 Listen to Tuesday’s Daily News Minute
🔥 Saudi AI startup DEEP.SA secures $1.2m Pre-Seed
Deeptech startup targets digital transformation in Saudi Arabia's public sector
🔥 DEWA's AI assistant handles 2 million enquiries
DEWA is integrating AI across its enterprise to become an AI-native utility
Wednesday, August 6th
🔊 Listen to Wednesday’s Daily News Minute
🔥 Jordan Central Bank issues AI regulatory framework
CBJ announces AI guidelines for Jordan's banking sector
🔥 Groq & HUMAIN deploy Open AI models on Day Zero
OpenAI's long awaited open source models now live on Groq Cloud
Thursday, August 7th
🔊 Listen to Thursday’s Daily News Minute
🔥 Telecom industry partners develop Arabic Telecom LLM
Khalifa University 6G Centre collaborates on Arabic telecom AI model
Friday, August 8th
🔊 Listen to Friday’s Daily News Minute
🔥 Presight partners with Dow Jones for AI risk solutions
AI-native risk solutions to target financial institutions, sovereign entities