UAE ranked fifth globally in AI competitiveness

Emirates commended by Global Vibrancy Tool 2024 for government's commitment to technology

Guests interact with a robot at the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in Abu Dhabi. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

The UAE has been ranked fifth on the Global Vibrancy Tool 2024, indicating its position as a leader in artificial intelligence.

Developed by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centred AI, the tool evaluates 36 countries across 42 AI-specific indicators, including research output, private investment, patents and infrastructure. The UAE’s ranking reflects its significant investments in AI, such as the establishment of research hubs such as Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the report said.

“In recent years, the UAE has publicly committed to becoming a global leader in AI,” it added.

While the US leads by a wide margin, followed by China, the UK and India, the UAE's progress highlights its growing influence in the AI landscape. The second biggest economy in the Arab world is placed ahead of countries including France, South Korea, Germany, Japan and Singapore.

The tool, unlike any other AI-related national index, is “unique in allowing users to adjust weights and assign varying values to indicators”, said Vanessa Parli, director of research at Stanford HAI and a member of the AI index steering committee.

“We recognise there are different perspectives on what defines a country’s AI standing, so we built that flexibility into the system.”

The Global Vibrancy Tool, first launched in 2017, was relaunched this year to feature more data.

UAE leads with bold AI initiatives and investments

The Emirates has long championed the use of AI and has launched various initiatives following the unveiling of the UAE Strategy for AI in 2017, which kick-started the creation of smart systems for services in key sectors.

Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for AI, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, is recognised as the world's first AI minister.

Last month, the UAE Cabinet revealed an international policy on AI to help prevent the misuse of the technology. Under this, the UAE will participate in international forums to help develop the use of AI, advocate transparency to enable governments to enforce ethical and accountability standards, and support the establishment of international alliances for governing AI systems.

In May, the UAE Cabinet also approved the establishment of a chief executive for AI in all major federal entities, which experts said highlights the level of preparation required to achieve long-term benefits and position the country as a leader in technology.

In May, TII introduced the second version of its large language model, Falcon 2, to compete with models developed by Google and Microsoft-backed OpenAI.

That same month, Core42, a unit of Abu Dhabi's AI and cloud company G42, launched a bilingual Arabic and English chatbot developed in the UAE, Jais Chat.

US technology company Microsoft, which announced a $1.5 billion investment in G42 in April, revealed in September its plans to open a branch of its AI for Good Lab in Abu Dhabi – the first such centre in the Middle East.

US leads the AI way

According to the report, the US, which has the world’s most robust AI ecosystem, produced the highest quality AI research, developed the most notable machine learning models, spent the most on private investment, and led in AI merger and acquisition activity last year.

The country also had the highest number of AI job postings and newly funded AI start-ups.