Microsoft to open its first Middle East 'AI for Good Lab' in Abu Dhabi

Company will also establish centre to advance 'Responsible AI' goals alongside G42

The AI for Good Lab in Abu Dhabi will seek to address key economic and societal issues potentially facing the Middle East, using artificial intelligence. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

Microsoft and G42 have announced two projects they say will help to ensure the responsible and altruistic use of artificial intelligence.

The initiatives come several months after Microsoft announced a $1.5 billion investment in Abu Dhabi AI and cloud company G42.

Plans to create a centre, founded and funded by Microsoft and G42, that will "identify, develop and advance best practices and industry standards for the responsible use of AI in the Middle East and the Global South" were unveiled on Tuesday.

“It will convene academic researchers and AI practitioners from across the private sector," a joint statement read. The centre has the endorsement of Abu Dhabi's Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology Council, it added.

Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, also announced it would be opening a branch of its AI for Good Lab in Abu Dhabi, its first such centre in the Middle East.

First announced in 2022, the AI for Good Lab has carried out research using AI that has been applied to rainforest conservation, food security, clean energy and human health endeavours, among other projects.

"The challenges we face are complex and no one company or organisation can solve them alone," said Microsoft vice president and chief data scientist Juan Lavista Ferres in a video introducing the ideas behind the lab in 2022. "Working in tandem, our AI for Good Lab applies core technical strengths towards important concerns."

According to Microsoft, the centre in Abu Dhabi will utilise AI to address significant economic and societal challenges across the Middle East and Africa. The lab will also collaborate with a Microsoft team in Nairobi to help develop large language models (LLMs), the backbone of many AI offerings, for unrepresented languages.

The lack of language diversity has emerged as a concern amid the AI-generated LLM boom. Many of the initial and successful iterations of AI were based in English, bolstering fears that other languages might be left behind amid an accelerating technology race between various companies.

The UAE has made several announcements to bolster AI language diversity. In May, a bilingual Arabic and English chatbot developed in the UAE, Jais Chat, was unveiled by Core42, a unit of Abu Dhabi's AI and cloud company G42. Last week, G42 also announced a Hindi LLM.

While promising and impressive on several technological levels, AI has also created a cause for concern over the potential for misuse, labour market disruption and a general unknown fear of how AI might evolve.

"This includes ensuring that the two companies' generative AI models and applications are developed, deployed and used safely," the joint statement said.

To prevent and blunt potential negative and unintended effects of AI, Microsoft has sought to list and define standards for responsible use. Those measures focus on accountability, transparency, inclusiveness, privacy, reliability and fairness.

"By advancing responsible AI together with Microsoft, we are creating a framework for AI to serve all of humanity," G42 group chief executive Peng Xiao said.

"These new centres reflect our shared vision for leveraging technology to solve real-world challenges, positioning Abu Dhabi as a global hub for AI innovation that prioritises safety, trust and collaboration, especially across the Global South."

The UAE has long sought to be a leader in AI research and set the pace for the burgeoning technological field. In 2019, the country announced the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, one of the world’s first dedicated AI educational institutes.

Sam Altman, founder and chief executive of OpenAI, told the World Government Summit in Dubai in February that the UAE would be well positioned to lead discussions about a hypothetical global AI watchdog system.

The country also recently became the first in the Arab world to join the Hiroshima AI Process Friends Group, which is dedicated to AI safety and security.