Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment Company, which has $330 billion of assets under management, plans to have an artificial intelligence member as a consultant on its investment committee starting next year, as it seeks to be at the forefront of the technology.
The emirate's investment arm will incorporate AI in every aspect of its operational model, including corporate, administration, accounting and investment, its chief executive and managing director Khaldoon Al Mubarak said on Friday during the closing session of the Milken Institute Middle East and Africa Summit held in Abu Dhabi.
"We at Mubadala are going to be on the frontier side of AI-enablement in our way of doing business next year...by the end of 2025, in everything we do, AI is going to be fully ingrained," he said.
"Starting in January 1, I've given that deadline, our first investment committee in the new year will have an AI member with us... not in decision-making for the time being, but a consultative co-pilot that has the Mubadala DNA we've been developing over the last year, that is able to support our decision-making in terms of due diligence, analysis and assessment and a perspective on every decision we're going to make."
The AI-enabled operations will elevate Mubadala to "a different place" and the company is "willing to take a bit of risk, for lack of a better word, in terms of how we're going to play with this to get ourselves smarter and smarter in that space".
Mubadala, which invests on behalf of the Abu Dhabi government, is at the centre of the emirate’s efforts to diversify its revenue base and generate income from sources other than oil. Its interests span six continents and include the aerospace, semiconductors, metals and mining, renewable energy, oil and gas, and petrochemicals sectors.
Mubadala – which has reached $330 billion of assets under management today, up from $200 million when it first started 20 years ago – is "zooming in" on key sectors that will be growing in the future including AI, technology, financial services, life sciences and healthcare, Mr Al Mubarak said.
Private credit is another area that the company is focusing on. Credit is "another ... very clear growth area that we are going to continue to invest in. It has done very well for us," he said, adding that Mubadala has an exposure to the asset class of almost $20 billion.
In terms of geographies, Mubadala is eyeing growth in Asia, given the massive expansion in their populations and youth demographics.
"South-east Asia, and Asia in general, we're underinvested in that. We need to [invest] because that's where the growth is," Mr Al Mubarak said.
India's population of 1.4 billion people, including a large proportion of youth under 15 years old, is also a major focus area for Mubadala and the UAE that take a long-term view of investments, Mr Al Mubarak said.
“You have to take a very strong view on India, you have to take a strong view on South-East because that's where growth is, that's where the populations are growing."
Mubadala is also considering how to tap into the African market.
“We have to figure out how we are going to invest in Africa and how we are going to create value in a way that matches our risk profile. That is a nut that we have not yet cracked but we’re gonna have to figure it out," Mr Al Mubarak said.
