OpenAI, the maker of popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT, and Dubai-based technology holding group G42 announced a new partnership on Oct. 18 to expand AI capabilities in the Middle East region.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The two companies plan to leverage OpenAI\u2019s generative AI models in sectors of G42\u2019s expertise, including financial services, energy, healthcare and public services. <\/p>\n
G42 said that organizations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other regions using its business solutions should now have a more simplified process of integrating advanced AI capabilities into existing businesses.<\/p>\n
It said it plans to \u201cprioritize its substantial AI infrastructure capacity to support OpenAI’s local and regional inferencing on Microsoft Azure data centers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, said that G42\u2019s connections in the industry can help bring AI solutions that \u201cresonate with the nuances of the region.\u201d He said the collaboration will help advance generative AI across the globe.<\/p>\n
Related: <\/em><\/strong>Middle East regulatory clarity drives crypto industry growth \u2014 Binance FZE head<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n This development follows another from neighboring Middle Eastern country Saudi Arabia, which recently announced a collaboration between a local university and universities in China around developing an Arabic-based AI system.\u00a0<\/p>\n The large language model (LLM), called AceGPT, is built on Meta\u2019s Llama 2. According to the project\u2019s GitHub page, it is designed to be an AI assistant for Arabic speakers and answer queries in Arabic. <\/p>\n Both of these developments come as regulators in the United States grow increasingly weary over the destination of AI semiconductor chip exports, including the Middle East. <\/p>\n In August, U.S. officials reportedly added \u201csome Middle Eastern countries\u201d to its list of areas where AI chip maker Nvidia and its rival AMD need to curb exports of their high-level semiconductor chips. <\/p>\n A few weeks later, U.S. regulators denied blocking said exports to the Middle East. However, in its most recent expansion of export controls of AI semiconductor chips, one new rule was to expand licensing requirements for the export of advanced chips to \u201call 22 countries to which the United States maintains an arms embargo.\u201d Aside from its main target being China, this includes Middle Eastern countries of Iraq, Iran and Lebanon. <\/p>\n