Omar Al Olama, the UAE’s AI Minister, explains how COVID-19 has been an accelerator for AI applications; why the US and China would benefit from a ‘constant dialogue’ on AI; and why ‘the new roads that we need to be building right now are roads in the digital realm.’

AI leads to ‘great return on investment’ in dealing with pandemic

The UAE approached the COVID-19 pandemic “as a scientist,” said Omar Al Olama, the UAE’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications.

Al Olama was appointed by the UAE as the first artificial intelligence (AI) minister in the world in 2017, when he was just 27 years old. That year, his ministry launched a strategy “to become one of the world leaders in AI by 2031.”

The COVID-19 pandemic, it turns out, may have accelerated the UAE’s applications of AI to governance and public health, and to establishing the Emirates as a world leader in AI, as Al Olama, now 31, explained in an exclusive Zoom interview with Al-Monitor on Nov. 18.

Al Olama describes a policy response to the pandemic by the UAE that has been data- and analytics-driven and characterized by openness to different ideas, nimbleness in response to changing events, and willingness to accept calculated risks.

“We actually were very open to many different solutions, and many different theories out there,” he said. “And we worked with everyone, from the East and the West, to try to find the right solutions that can be deployed in the UAE to make us go back to living a relatively normal life. Not the normal life that we're used to. People still need to wear masks. There's still a lot of focus on the general community's safety, but AI played a big role in getting us to this point."

The adaptation of AI was central to the UAE’s response to the pandemic, including in the development of the Alhosn public health application, which has allowed rapid innovation in testing and tracking for COVID. Based upon AI simulations, the government was also able to anticipate what would be needed at various stages of the pandemic — such as numbers of ventilators and vaccines required.

The process “produced a great return on investment for the UAE, because we were quickly able to become one of the leading countries in the world in terms of vaccination rates,” said Al Olama. “The reason why it was a calculated risk and the outcomes were very positive is because we leveraged every technology and human ingenuity with it to plan forward for this COVID-19 pandemic, while also deliberating continuously to understand if there are any changes that might affect these plans. So when a new variant came out, we actually had to go back, reassess the situation, understand what it means for our plans, and if there wasn't a big risk on it at the time, we would continue and make a few tweaks. If there was a big risk, then the plans would change.”

“And today everyone considers the UAE model one of the best models out there for dealing with the pandemic, and for going back to a life that is very close to the normal life we're used to,” he said.

Investing in digital roads

Asked about the continued growth in AI investments worldwide, Al Olama responded that the numbers could and should probably be higher, as AI is now a “foundational” technology for innovation and development in the public and private sectors.

“AI has become such an important factor of developing solutions for the future, and such an important technology, that today, it represents a foundational layer of all businesses that are going to start up, whether it's a hardware business or a software business,” or even a restaurant, he said.

“The new roads that we need to be building right now are roads in the digital realm. High-performance computing, for example, is exceptionally important. We actually invested in a high-performance computer in the UAE government that is open for free for startups and academia to use to train their AI algorithms, to use as well to run simulations; because we believe that not everyone will be able invest in this infrastructure, but we provide as a government; we make it a lot easier for them to start up and experiment and actually develop their solutions on their companies.”

Attracting and developing talent

The UAE is pursuing a two-track strategy to develop a world class workforce proficient in AI and related technologies.

The first track involves educating Emiratis in the uses and applications of AI.

“Our motto for using and deploying AI is condensed or summarized into the acronym BRAIN [Build a Responsible Artificial Intelligence Nation],” said Al Olama, “because a responsible deployment, a responsible development, a responsible use of AI is the only way that we can develop this technology in a way that is not going to make us regret it in the years to come.

“In thinking about responsible use and deployment and development of AI, we need to understand that the people that are going to be working with this technology are people that need to be educated and trained about AI and are people that need to not fear it, but try to at least understand a certain aspect of it to take the right decisions that will help them achieve better results.”

The UAE has expanded its AI camps and National Program for Coders for students of all ages. And the Mohammad bin Zayed University for Artificial Intelligence this month launched its first executive education program.

The university “is a forward-looking investment that is His Highness Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the leadership of the UAE put to ensure that we don't just try to leverage on global expertise, but actually contribute to global knowledge creation when it comes to artificial intelligence,” said Al Olama.

Another track is attracting global talent, where the UAE has an advantage as a major international hub for trade, travel and business.

“There's a lot of talent here that's hungry for the ability to grow and that maybe want to migrate to a different market, but because of the pandemic situation, because of different variables, they're not able to migrate to the US or Canada or Europe. That opens up an opportunity for the UAE to be a stepping stone for them, where they can actually come, realize their dreams, create a startup,” says Al Olama.

UAE ‘very serious' about autonomous vehicles

Al Olama describes the UAE’s adoption of autonomous vehicles as “very serious,” working with some of the leading global transportation and technology firms.

And as with the pandemic, science, testing and safety guide the UAE approach.

“There were so many challenges that came up after testing the technology,” Al Olama said. “And we said that the only way we can actually work with these companies is to raise these challenges and try to find solutions, and to deploy them slowly but maturely across the country, and tested effectively in the UAE. Safety and security of people on the roads is paramount, but we're also testing systems like autonomous buses that take people across tourist destinations and tourist areas.”

“And this isn't happening [just] in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It's not happening just in the capital and, for example, the business hub of the UAE,” he adds. “It's happening across the country. So, a great example is there's an autonomous bus service that takes people across the area of Ajman, which I inspected with his Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al Nuaimi a few days back.”

The US, China, and the need for ‘constant dialogue’ on AI

When we last spoke with Al Olama in 2019, he said he did not agree that the US-China rivalry will define the global AI competition. He stands by that assessment, adding that the rivalry also can’t define the UAE’s approach to its AI strategy and international partnerships, as the Emirates is a technology importer. And the US and China would be well served, he believes, by dialogue on AI.

“With regards to working with the US and working with China, the US is historically the UAE's go-to partner,” says Al Olama. “We don't forget the very deep-rooted relationships between the leadership and the people of the UAE and the United States. But there's another thing that we also need to understand, which is today we are a technology importer. When it comes to technology, if we need to procure it and we need to work with partners on it, we will always favor our partners, but we also favor everyone else that has the technology. So we don't want to be biased against a country, and we want to work with everyone on this. We also believe that there is a definite advantage of engagement between the US and China on the development of AI, or at least on understanding what's happening on the AI front in both countries.”

“There needs to be a constant dialogue, and this is something that the UAE calls for continuously,” said Al Olama. “We are trying to ensure that AI becomes a tool that is used for good by all countries, and we want to make sure that our long-lasting partners, and the favored partner of UAE, which is the US, are also championing this motto.”

The full interview, lightly edited for publication, was conducted by Andrew Parasiliti.

Al-Monitor: Mr. Minister, since we last met, the world has struggled with the COVID-19 pandemic, which it seems has been a catalyst for AI applications with regard to public health and governments in the UAE. Would you say the pandemic indeed been a catalyst, or accelerator, or a disruptor for your overall AI strategy?

Al Olama: So thank you very much, Andrew, for having me. It's an absolute pleasure talking to you once again.

The pandemic, I think, was a pandemic with many different phases.

The beginning of the pandemic was probably a disrupter, not just for the UAE, but for the whole world. Because we suddenly had to take decisions on everything: Whether we were going to go to work tomorrow, and from a government perspective, whether schools are going to be running or not.

And even when it comes to deploying technology, there were a lot of questions asked. Was the technology ready? Are we able to actually use it effectively?

Now for the UAE, there were lots of investments that were being put for many years in advance, that were going to be deployed at one point of time.

So if we look at the infrastructure, the connectivity in the UAE, the number of connected devices and the investments, for example, these devices in education as one example, right? All of these investments were for a day that will come, that we're going to go into virtual education.

Most experts at some point of time said that virtual education, or remote education, is going to be mainstream probably by 2024, and some estimated by 2026. Now, that turned out to be something that was accelerated during COVID.

So we actually overnight went from conventional education in the classroom to remote education. Everyone was able to just work and study from home. The same is true as well for working from home. And the same was also true for remote healthcare and telemedicine.

In that perspective, COVID was a great accelerator. In other fields, we actually had to try to create solutions, as we go along, to ensure that we're able to deal with the pandemic, where every single interaction between people increased the risk of exposure and also increased the risk of spread.

So for example, track-and-trace programs were deployed across the world, in many different countries like Singapore and the UK and others. Our track-and-trace program also uses artificial intelligence to try to understand where are the pockets of spread, and where have people been, to know exactly how we should effectively try to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak and the pandemic itself.

There was a lot also being done to try to speed the result-gathering process, or the results process, when it comes to testing. Because in the beginning, if you remember, results used to come out in 24 hours, sometimes take 48 hours. And that doesn't make sense if you want people to actually go back to living a normal life.

So, there was a lot of R and D, and a lot of expenditure, being actually invested into trying to understand how we can test more effectively, and how can we actually understand if people have COVID or if they haven't.

And the UAE has been approaching this as a scientist. We actually were very open to many different solutions, and many different theories out there. And we worked with everyone, from the East and the West, to try to find the right solutions that can be deployed in the UAE to make us go back to living a relatively normal life. Not the normal life that we're used to. People still need to wear masks. There's still a lot of focus on the general community's safety, but AI played a big role in getting us to this point. And today everyone considers the UAE model one of the best models out there for dealing with the pandemic, and for going back to a life that is very close to the normal life we're used to.

Al-Monitor: With regard to AI and dealing with the pandemic, tell us more about the Alhosn application for medicine and public health, because that's been a big part of your adaptation, and of the success you've had in testing and tracking. And what do you see as the next steps, in terms of AI and public health, given what you've learned from the experience of the pandemic?

Al Olama: Thank you very much for that great question. Now, if we look at the Alhosn app, and the approach that the UAE took with using this app, the first thing we needed to have is a real-time verification mechanism, or metric, to understand if someone really did get tested, and if they have or don't have COVID, as well, who they interacted with, where they have been.

In the beginning, when people used to go and get tested for COVID, they would get a printout, paper. And soon enough, there were people who, because they were good in Photoshop or whatever, were able to photoshop the certificates and give themselves whatever result, not even going to go get tested. Now, to overcome that, and this is a global issue that most countries have to look at, because people even tried to, in many different geographies, counterfeit their vaccination certificates as well, to say that they're vaccinated while they weren't.

So, the app was developed. First using blockchain technology, as one of the main core elements of the app, and also using artificial intelligence for track and trace, for analytics on spread, on the different trends when it comes to the virus. How are people reacting to it? What is happening?

And also, once people actually got COVID and they needed to be isolated at home, the Alhosn app prompts you to give location data. And that's something that was mandatory for those who were isolating. And the government itself wanted to ensure that people were abiding by the rules. And if they needed to go out, there was a way for us to provide safe means of travel, or at least provide the services that they required from home.

So, what the app would do if you were going to leave home, or if you actually needed to speak to someone, you would get a phone call from the health department asking you how you are doing, from a mental health perspective, or if you're feeling depressed or sad. Giving you some reassurance that everything is fine. You know, this is just a phase that needs to be overcome, of you being isolated away from people, just to ensure that this does not spread. And also asking you if, for example, we need certain services to be delivered, and the government would do it.

The other thing where most people actually do not see AI being used, but AI was really something that we focused on in the UAE, was proper planning for the phase after the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. So, how do you plan on how many vaccines you need to order, on how we order the PPE equipment, or ventilators, or whatever else we need. So, there is a lot of simulations being done, and run, and also tested, and they are the core proponent of this. Where we try to, effectively, invest for the future. Invest, to ensure that we are able to give people enough safety for them to live a normal life, to a certain degree, while at the same time not running into a roadblock of saying we should have ordered more vaccines, or we should have ordered more ventilators, or we should have done something differently.

That itself had had a great return on investment for the UAE, because we were quickly able to become one of the leading countries in the world in terms of vaccination rates. We were quickly able to reopen the economy, with keeping in mind that the UAE actually remained open for most of the year in 2020. So we did close down from March to April for around six weeks, but then we opened up for the rest of the year, which was a risk that most people actually thought would backfire. The reason why it was a calculated risk and the outcomes were very positive is because we leveraged every technology and human ingenuity with it to plan forward for this COVID-19 pandemic, while also deliberating continuously to understand if there are any changes that might affect these plans. So when a new variant came out, we actually had to go back, reassess the situation, understand what it means for our plans, and if there wasn't a big risk on it at the time, we would continue and make a few tweaks. If there was a big risk, then the plans would change.

Al-Monitor: Minister, according to CB Insights, AI startups raised a record $17.9 billion in funding across 841 deals globally in the third quarter of this year. Now, AI adoption via technology funding is expected to contribute up to 14% to your country's gross domestic product, equivalent to $97.9 billion by 2030. That's according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Where do you see these investments going, and how do they impact your planning for AI for the UAE? What are the priorities and how is the investment flow influencing and impacting your priorities?

Al Olama: Andrew, hearing you say this does not surprise me at all. It's like me telling you, if we flip around the question session, and I was actually asking you the question, and I was telling you that probably a thousand companies that actually use something related to electricity were able to raise $500 billion over the last year.

AI has become such an important factor of developing solutions for the future, and such an important technology, that today, it represents a foundational layer of all businesses that are going to start up, whether it's a hardware business or a software business. Even if you're going to open up a restaurant, there has to be a component of AI for you to be able to serve your customers better and grow. It doesn't matter what sector you're in. It doesn't matter what your unique selling point is. AI has to be there.

So I'm actually surprised that the number isn't bigger. I think as more and more people become more proficient in trying to understand and work with this technology, as more and more people start to actually try to experiment with it, we're going to see incredible results moving forward. But I actually think that this is going to become the status quo.

In the UAE, we actually believe this strongly. So we wanted to first ensure that we're able to catapult and accelerate AI companies in the UAE and actually make them global companies, rather than just local companies. We asked ourselves the first question, which is, what should we provide as a government to allow us to become that country that's able to export these solutions? And the first thing that came to mind was, thinking about the conventional role of government, when governments built roads, the point of those roads were, yes, it was a big infrastructure spending at the time, but those roads actually changed the paradigm when it comes to economic activity, quality of life, et cetera, because people were able to use those roads for their cars to go longer distances, working better jobs, actually deliver certain goods and services to other areas. So net-net, everyone benefits and it was great.

The new roads that we need to be building right now are roads in the digital realm. High-performance computing, for example, is exceptionally important. We actually invested in a high-performance computer in the UAE government that is open for free for startups and academia to use to train their AI algorithms, to use as well to run simulations; because we believe that not everyone will be able invest in this infrastructure, but we provide as a government; we make it a lot easier for them to start up and experiment and actually develop their solutions on their companies.

Another core component is talent. We have been blessed with having 200 nationalities [living and working in the UAE]. We've been blessed with being a country that has great quality of life and great mobility as well. So people from around the world are flocking to the UAE. But how can we, first, rescale or upscale people in a digital field, and how can we attract the best people from around the world to come to the UAE?

On upscaling and rescaling, we've launched many programs. We've launched a program, the AI camp, which moved fully digital this year, and trained tens of thousands of people to a certain level of proficiency. Depending on the age group, depending on the actual class that they attended, they were able to get different skillsets, whether it's how do we develop Apple app store apps, or how can you, for example, develop a full-stack software solution using a specific coding language, and so on, so forth.

We did a lot of programs on that front, but we also wanted to create a community. So we launched a program called the National Program for Coders, which had over 50 different partners and over 50 initiatives under it, that really focused on trying to bring people together that are like-minded; trying to attract the best people from around the region to the UAE.

Now, we see that the global talent market, when it comes to software, is actually, to some degree, very close to the UAE. Whether it's Eastern European talent today that are up and coming in many fields, and are considered among the best in the world, or Indian talent, or let's say talent from the subcontinent, or talent from China or Africa or the Middle East.

There's a lot of talent here that's hungry for the ability to grow, and that maybe want to migrate to a different market, but because of the pandemic situation, because of different variables, they're not able to migrate to the US, Canada or Europe. That opens up an opportunity for the UAE to be a stepping stone for them, where they can actually come, realize their dreams, create a startup. … Maybe, you know, less than the NASDAQ or to expand to the US or Canada, which is perfectly good for us because we believe that the economic activity, the amount of foreign direct investment that's going to come to the UAE, is going to be very positive.

Al-Monitor: This year Dubai adopted AI-based driver evaluations. Last time we talked, we talked about your planning for autonomous vehicles. Can you provide us an update on how autonomous vehicles are being incorporated into your planning, and how imminent is the reality of autonomous vehicles in the UAE?

Al Olama: We are very serious about autonomous vehicles in the UAE. We're also very serious about being a country where people can test the technology and being a country where we become one of the first deployers of this technology.

A few weeks earlier, so right at the beginning of this month, we raised a request with the Ministry of Interior, to the cabinet, to push for authorization to allow for self-driving cars to operate on the roads of the UAE.

We have been testing self-driving cars from the top developers of autonomous transports from around the world, in closed environments, where there is an infrastructure of roads of traffic lights, etc., and there were thousands of hours of testing being done, but because it's a controlled environment, you actually cannot know if this is ready to be deployed on the streets.

But we were able to get an authorization from the cabinet of the UAE to deploy self driving car technologies — working with all of these companies, top companies in the world — on the streets of the UAE, but in ways where we can actually try to also guarantee the safety and security of people by testing them on a staggered basis, where first we go to areas that don't have a lot of foot traffic, that don't have a lot of cars on the streets, that have more mature roads and more mature signages, etc.

What we understand today is depending on the technology that you use to run your vehicle, there are different challenges. If using a computer vision-based system, there might be some issues with humidity, for example, fogging up the glass of the camera or the glass of the windshield. That will affect the visibility of the car. And in that specific example, there are many solutions to test that. Whether it's using windshield wipers or using other technologies to try to offset the challenge of humidity.

When it comes to, for example, Lidar technologies, there are certain challenges with regards to camera flashes or radar flashes blinding the Lidar.

So, there were so many challenges that came up after testing the technology. And we said that the only way we can actually work with these companies is to raise these challenges and try to find solutions, and to deploy them slowly but maturely across the country, and [that they are] tested effectively in the UAE. Safety and security of people on the roads is paramount, but we're also testing systems like autonomous buses that take people across tourist destinations and tourist areas.

And this isn't happening in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It's not happening just in the capital and, for example, the business hub of the UAE. It's happening across the country. So, a great example is there's an autonomous bus service that takes people across the area of Ajman, which I inspected with his Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al Nuaimi a few days back.

The point here is there are two things. There's the regulation; we are very aggressively trying to change the conventional traditional regulations to meet the demand of the providers of these technologies and the technology itself.

But then there's also the technology, as we deploy this technology in different areas. So if we move it from, for example, areas like California or Shanghai or wherever it's being tested, into an environment, that's out where there's a lot more heat, there's a lot more humidity, the weather changes quite drastically from winter to summer, and we see how it affects these vehicles, we will be able to push the technology forward. And this is what matters in our perspective.

Al-Monitor: The Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) has developed a smart management approach to groundwater storage, using AI systems and machine line language to manage and operate wells, determine quantities of pumped water, and control water quality. Tell us about this project. This is an important one for not just the UAE, but for the region, I would assume.

Al Olama: For this project specifically, I think if you speak to the team that's working on it, they'd give you a lot more. But let me explain to you why this project was done effectively in the UAE and why this is just one of many examples where the UAE is trying to deliver advanced technologies, not just for commercial gain, but actually for long term, more sustainable living, long term wellbeing of individuals and people.

When we think about the challenge that we're facing, the challenge of climate change, the challenge of desertification, the challenge of certain resources being depleted and water is at the top of that list, we need to understand that this is a challenge with many moving parts: moving parts of the temperature, moving parts of human activity in terms of building structures and digging underground, and even for example, extracting water from underground reservoirs, etc.

Once we do all of these things, we affect the natural resources, we affect the environment in ways that are not linear.

So, each [effect varies], if we're going to look at it in percentage terms, maybe it will be a 10 percent effect; others will be a 5 percent effect; others will be 50 percent effect. The only way to we can effectively deal and manage with these changing paradigms while also ensuring that whatever we do is being done with the future in our mind and with responsibility … is to understand how things are changing as they are changing. And that step is going it to be very important for us to combat, for example, the issue of food security or energy security or water security, while also looking at deploying these technologies for things like saving wildlife and ensuring that certain species don't go extinct, or combating climate change. Because all of these challenges are challenges that are not very static, they are moving targets that we need to look at constantly.

Al-Monitor: Let's talk a little more about talent, which you discussed up earlier. Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence inaugurated its first executive education program this month. Tell us about the progress of building human capital, and the role of the university.

Al-Olama: The Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence is a forward-looking investment that is his Highness Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the leadership of the UAE put to ensure that we don't just try to leverage on global expertise, but actually contribute to global knowledge creation when it comes to artificial intelligence.

The first way you can do it is by actually eradicating to a certain degree the level of ignorance that you have within the government and within the private sector to actually be able to use and deploy AI effectively while thinking of it responsibly. Our motto for using and deploying AI is condensed or summarized into the acronym BRAIN. We want to Build a Responsible Artificial Intelligence Nation because a responsible deployment, a responsible development, a responsible use of AI is the only way that we can develop this technology in a way that is not going to make us regret it in the years to come.

In thinking about responsible use and deployment and development of AI, we need to understand that the people that are going to be working with this technology are people that need to be educated and trained about AI and are people that need to not fear it, but try to at least understand a certain aspect of it to take the right decisions that will help them achieve better results.

If you are blinded by AI, you will take decisions that make a lot of sense today, but four, five or ten years down the line will affect future generations or will harm society.

If you are scared of it, you will take decisions that are based on fear, and that will make you lose out on opportunities, and will also make you become irrelevant in a world where everyone is trying to make sense of the technology and deploy it in the most effective manner.

So Mohammed bin Zayed University for Artificial Intelligence is a global institution in terms of the caliber of people working in it and in terms of the outputs that are going to come out of this university, situated in the UAE, that first and foremost is being used to eradicate a lot of the ignorance that exists across the private sector and the public sector when it comes to artificial intelligence and helps them to, in a meaningful way, shape the future of AI in the UAE.

Al-Monitor: Mr. Minister, when we spoke two years ago, you said you didn't see the US-China competition for AI as a two-horse race. Do you still agree? As you look to partnerships and opportunities for the development of AI, what do you see as the benefits and advantages from dealing with the US, and the benefits and advantages of dealing with China? I assume your strategy includes engaging both.

Al Olama: I still stick with my statement, and I think that it depends as well on what are we saying, or what do you mean when you say two-horse race? If we are talking about the number of companies and the number of solutions that are going to come out, then it probably is a two-horse race in terms of the size of the horses, and probably the other horses are ponies next to them. So they're quite small. Because the US and China are always going to graduate a lot more solutions.

In terms of quality of solutions, that's where the conversation changes, because I do believe that even smaller countries can contribute to creating solutions with regards to artificial intelligence software that can be globally renowned, that will have incredible impact or monumental impact on their fields, and the US and China can both benefit from.

We see that from examples like, for example, Israel where some artificial intelligence solutions that are developed in Israel are adopted in the UAE and embraced by the US, and also being used in countries even like China. It's not just Israel, it's Singapore as well. It's the UK as well. It's the UAE. It's different countries around the world that can contribute from a quality perspective.

Quantity is a different game because that depends on number of engineers that you have, number of startups that you have, population size. So normally, you'd see, and it's quite normal for this to happen, countries with a bigger population will be able to graduate a lot more options out in the market.

With regards to working with the US and working with China, the US is historically the UAE's go-to partner. We don't forget the very deep-rooted relationships between the leadership and the people of the UAE and the United States. But there's another thing that we also need to understand, which is today we are a technology importer. When it comes to technology, if we need to procure it and we need to work with partners on it, we will always favor our partners, but we also favor everyone else that has the technology. So we don't want to be biased against a country, and we want to work with everyone on this. We also believe that there is a definite advantage of engagement between the US and China on the development of AI, or at least on understanding what's happening on the AI front in both countries.

Why I say this is, if both countries are not having conversation, and if the world becomes a world that is polarized where both countries are developing on their own with their allies, without any crosscutting conversations between other allies as well or between an ally of one country with the other, what is going to happen is there might be an AI use case that is very harmful, the equivalent of a nuclear bomb or the equivalent of something that will have a big impact on the digital footprint of the world or the world at large that will harm us and we will not be able to foresee it and we will not be able to take the right decisions to stop it.

There needs to be a constant dialogue, and this is something that the UAE calls for continuously. We are trying to ensure that AI becomes a tool that is used for good by all countries, and we want to make sure that our long-lasting partners, and the favored partner of UAE, which is the US, are also championing this motto.