UAE can make AI as important as internet, Emirati official says

Mariam Almheiri says first phase of 'AI clusters' to be online by 2026

A model of the UAE-US AI Cluster during its launch ceremony at Qasr Al Watan. UAE Presidential Court

Mariam Almheiri, head of International Affairs at the UAE Presidential Court, said the country can help to make artificial intelligence a strategic utility like the internet through its partnerships, regulatory framework and energy infrastructure.

“We tick the boxes everywhere,” she said during the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum in Washington on Tuesday.

Ms Almheiri made the comments while taking part in a panel discussion focused on financing energy and infrastructure in the technology age.

“With the recent visit President [Donald] Trump to the UAE announcing the AI cluster, if you think about what that is, it's up to 5 gigawatts of optimised AI data centre power,” she said. Ms Almheiri added that the first phase of that cluster was going to be online by 2026, and pointed out that the UAE has plenty of ways to power it, along with other AI energy facilities.

“If you just think of what that's going to do to take this transformation that we need, we need a transformation in the energy side as well," she said.

Among the projects the UAE has begun in recent years are the 1.2 gigawatt Noor Abu Dhabi solar power plant, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park and the 5.6 gigawatt Barakah nuclear power plant.

Speaking during a separate panel session, Emirates Nuclear Energy Company chief executive Mohamed Al Hammadi said that the Barakah plant provides one quarter of electricity in the UAE, a “huge energy transition” in the past five years.

Over the past decade, the UAE − the Arab world’s second largest economy − has been open about its desire to be an AI front-runner as it diversifies its economy away from oil.

A model of the UAE-US AI Cluster displayed during the launch ceremony at Qasr Al Watan on May 15. Abdulla Al Neyadi / UAE Presidential Court

The country’s efforts have resulted in the establishment of start-ups as well as partnerships and investments from industry leaders including Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI.

Ms Almheiri said the UAE has “built the bridges” to help with its energy transformation, aided by the partnerships it has formed.

“To move the needle on any transformation when it comes to AI, to make AI strategic utility something like the internet, we need these partnerships and we need the ingredients.”

Major planned investments between the US and UAE were also announced during Mr Trump's visit to the UAE last month, including a new 5GW UAE-US AI Campus in Abu Dhabi.

The US Commerce Department said the AI campus would be home to large and small companies that could “leverage the capacity for regional compute with the ability to serve the Global South”.