Today's Edition
MAYS IBRAHIM (ABU DHABI)
As the UAE inches closer towards its 2031 vision of AI supremacy, the year 2024 marked significant milestones with advancements in AI-driven healthcare, climate-tech solutions, and strategic international collaborations.
PwC forecasts that AI will contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, with the UAE set to capture $96 billion of that total.
In the Global Vibrancy Tool 2024 released by Stanford Institute Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, the UAE ranked fifth worldwide and first in the Middle East as an AI leader.
Revolutionising Medical Technology
The year 2024 witnessed significant strides in AI applications within healthcare, a priority sector for the UAE.
In May, the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) partnered with Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) and Core42, a G42 company specialising in AI solutions, to launch the Global AI Healthcare Academy, during the Abu Dhabi Global Healthcare Week (ADGHW).
The academy aims to develop a highly skilled AI-trained workforce, enhancing diagnostic capabilities, improving patient care, and streamlining healthcare processes across the region.
In a separate initiative during Abu Dhabi Global Healthcare Week (ADGHW), M42 unveiled the second iteration of its Med42, an open-access generative AI Clinical Large Language Model (LLM).
This new version matches the performance of proprietary models like OpenAI's GPT-4 and Google's Med-Gemini, achieving a zero-shot accuracy of 85.1% and a maximum accuracy of 87.3% when tested with specialised prompting on the USMLE.
In the same month, M42 revealed AIRIS-TB, an AI-powered chest X-ray system designed to screen for tuberculosis (TB) at the Capital Health Screening Centre (CHSC).
With this new technology, the centre can now conduct 2,000 AI-assisted TB screenings daily, a tenfold increase in efficiency compared to traditional methods. The system's accuracy ensures that no TB cases are missed, while reducing radiologists' workload by up to 80%.
In October, Medcare Hospitals and Medical Centers announced that it introduced Airdoc, an AI retinal image interpretation system, at its Medcare Hospital Al Safa. This technology diagnoses 35 eye diseases and 9 chronic conditions including hypertension, anaemia, and diabetes, in just three minutes.
Harnessing AI for Climate and Sustainability
The UAE is also leveraging artificial intelligence to tackle global environmental challenges, with 2024 seeing key innovations that promise to reshape the future of food safety, climate forecasting, and agricultural resilience.
M42, in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council (ADQCC), launched the UAE's first fully equipped Honey Quality Laboratory in July.
This facility uses AI to ensure the quality and authenticity of honey products, setting new standards for food safety in the industry.
In September, G42 and NVIDIA announced a partnership to develop advanced AI-driven climate technology, focusing on enhancing the accuracy of global weather forecasting.
Their collaboration will leverage NVIDIA's Earth-2 platform to create high-resolution simulations, ultimately improving climate predictions and advancing environmental sustainability. A new Climate Tech Lab in Abu Dhabi will serve as a hub for this cutting-edge research, mobilising data to tackle climate challenges on a global scale.
The UAE also unveiled the AgriLLM Project at COP29, an AI-powered initiative aimed at improving global food security. This collaboration involves leveraging AI technology to empower over 500 million smallholder farmers with actionable insights to boost productivity and resilience.
Additionally, the UAE introduced CHAG (Chat + Ag), an AI tool designed to help farmers adapt to extreme climatic conditions, drawing on decades of agricultural research to improve food security and mitigate the impact of climate change on the UAE's agriculture sector.
International AI Partnerships
The UAE has made significant progress throughout 2024 in forming strategic global partnerships to enhance its AI ecosystem.
In April, Microsoft announced an investment of $1.5 billion in G42, a leading UAE-based AI company, with the aim of co-innovating to deliver advanced AI solutions for various industries and markets across the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.
In September, Microsoft and G42 announced the launch of two AI research centres in Abu Dhabi to promote the responsible and ethical use of AI.
The first centre, co-funded by G42 and Microsoft with support from the UAE's AI and Advanced Technology Council (AIATC), will develop best practices for transparent AI use in the Middle East and developing countries.
The second, an expansion of Microsoft's AI for Good Research Lab, will focus on AI projects addressing key societal challenges like climate change, poverty, and sustainable development.
In the same month, the Common Principles for Cooperation on AI was endorsed by His Highness Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi and National Security Adviser, and Jake Sullivan, US National Security Advisor, in the White House.
This came following President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's meeting with US President Joe Biden.
His Highness the President has welcomed this framework statement, which strengthens cooperation between the two countries in artificial intelligence and related technologies.
