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New age of AI will lead to opportunities, growth: Microsoft’s Satya Nadella

Microsoft’s cloud regions are considered a key driver behind the UAE’s digital transformation

The rise of Generative AI is a “profound” and a “paradigm” technology shift, Satya Nadella, Microsoft chairman and CEO, said in Abu Dhabi.

While speaking at the Microsoft ‘AI, a New Era’ event, Nadella met local business leaders, government officials and developers and emphasised the role of AI in unlocking new opportunities to accelerate the UAE’s digital economy and transforming the lives of its people.

“This new age of AI will drive innovation and has the potential to expand opportunity and growth around the world – including in the UAE,” Nadella said.

“It’s inspiring to see so many developers and businesses in the Emirates already applying AI to address business and societal challenges.”

Microsoft has had a presence in the UAE for more than 30 years and chose the country as the location for its first data centres in the Middle East. Microsoft’s cloud regions are considered a key driver behind the UAE’s digital transformation, serving as foundations for the deployment of modern technologies, including AI.

“We are grounded in this mission of ours to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more, which means driving that economic growth across every sector of the economy.”

A PwC report has predicted a $320 billion AI industry in the Middle East by 2030 and singled out the UAE as likely to have the largest percentage share for AI in its economy out of any nation in the region: close to 14 per cent of 2030 GDP.

During his keynote speech, Nadella announced the upcoming availability of Azure OpenAI Service from the company’s UAE cloud data centres. The service, which will be available later this month, provides access to a suite of powerful AI models, including GPT-4, Codex, and DALL-E 2, which can be used to develop innovative AI applications such as virtual assistants, content generation, code generation, image editing tools, and more.

“We are excited about our footprint in the UAE, both in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and we're also very excited to bring Azure open AI to the region as well.”

Nadella highlighted some of the ways UAE organisations are leading AI transformation and innovation in key industries.

The UAE’s Ministry of Education is partnering with local start-up ASI, founded by 20-year-old Quddus Pativada, to develop a personalised AI tutor, which will act as an Arabic and English study companion for UAE students to help them improve their learning beyond the classroom. The tutor will be rolled out across the UAE’s schools. The partnership aligns with the ministry’s drive to incorporate AI into the educational system, announced during the World Government Summit (WGS) 2023.

The Department of Health in Abu Dhabi is developing a unified, digital experience for patients, which will allow them to provide holistic, on-demand healthcare services in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. An AI-powered patient assistant, running on Azure, will provide instant access to unified medical records and make searching for a doctor and scheduling appointments effortlessly.

G42 released a large language Arabic model, Jais, which will be available through Azure Services and will boost the ability to create original Arabic content for close to 100 million underserviced Arabic language internet users.

DeepOpinion, co-founded by Dr Ahmed Al-Ali, is embedding AI models in existing automation workflows running on Microsoft Azure and integrating with Microsoft Power Platform, allowing organisations to reduce repetitive tasks and reduce workplace accidents caused by human error.