A government-backed research institute in Abu Dhabi has unveiled a powerful new Arabic-language artificial intelligence model, Falcon Arabic.
The launch is part of the United Arab Emirates’ efforts to retain its technological edge in the Middle East’s growing AI sector. The latest Falcon releases suggest that the United Arab Emirates is eager to remain competitive in AI to take on Alibaba and Meta.
In the Middle East, like in other areas, businesses are reconsidering whether spending a lot of money to create advanced AI models from the ground up is worthwhile.
UAE vows to stop at nothing to challenge Meta and Alibaba
Falcon Arabic AI was developed using a dataset that includes Modern Standard Arabic and various regional dialects.
The Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the Abu Dhabi organization behind Falcon, asserted that this new model performs as well as those up to 10 times larger. TII also released Falcon H1, a smaller model that it claims outperforms similar models from Meta Platforms Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
This has given the UAE hopes to take on Alibaba and Meta and its goal of positioning itself as a key competitor in the AI space. Although Falcon is the top AI product from the UAE, it has had difficulty keeping pace with the progress made by open-source alternatives from Meta and China’s DeepSeek.
In 2023, TII highlighted that its AI system ranked first among open-source models on Hugging Face, a well-known measure for the industry. However, according to analysis, this changed as of last month; Falcon was not in the top 500 on the platform’s leaderboard.
Apart from this, it was observed that its user numbers fall significantly behind those of Meta and other competitors. This, however, did not stop the UAE from fulfilling its goal. The nation looked into other ways to enter the AI boom beyond model development.
G42, an Emirati tech conglomerate, recently announced plans to build a 5-gigawatt data center campus in Abu Dhabi, along with several US firms. MGX, an investment fund co-formed by G42, partnered with Nvidia Corp. and French firms to establish what they say will be Europe’s largest AI data center campus. MGX has also backed US AI developers OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI.
Trump’s visit supercharged the UAE’s AI ambitions
Trump’s visit is another strong factor that will solidify the UAE’s position as a key competitor in the AI space. During his visit, he pledged to strengthen US ties with the United Arab Emirates. Trump then announced striking deals with the Gulf states, adding up to over $200 billion, as the two countries agreed to deepen their cooperation in AI.
Moreover, following Trump’s meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the White House reported that he revealed agreements that featured a $14.5 billion promise from Etihad Airways to invest in 28 Boeing, 787, and 777x planes, powered by engines made by GE Aerospace.
The US Commerce Department revealed another important topic of discussion during Trump’s visit. Based on reports from the department, the two nations would talk about a framework for a “US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership.” Trump and Sheikh Mohamed were present at the announcement of a new 5GW AI campus. This campus may wind up the largest AI campus outside the United States.
The deals will provide the Gulf country with wider access to sophisticated artificial intelligence chips developed in the US after previously being restricted by Washington due to fears that China would get hold of them, sources said.
Interestingly, Trump was in the UAE on the latest stage of a tour of rich Gulf Arab states after hailing plans that Doha had agreed to invest $10 billion into US military facilities on a trip to Qatar. In a meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Trump expressed excitement at the relationship. He stated that he had absolutely no doubt that the relationship would only get bigger and better.
Since Nvidia and other AI superior-tech companies are in the US, the US-UAE relationship will significantly boost the UAE’s AI performance, lifting its position to greater heights in the tech ecosystem.
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