AI, investment and energy discussed during UAE meeting at White House with Vice President JD Vance

Meeting was centred on deepening co-operation amid major investment initiative

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, US Vice President JD Vance and UAE Ambassador to the US, Yousef Al Otaiba, at the White House on Friday.

UAE officials met US Vice President JD Vance at the White House on Friday to discuss AI, recent investment initiatives and increased energy co-operation.

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and managing director and group chief executive of Adnoc, along with Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE's ambassador to the US and Minister of State, took part in the meeting with the US Vice President.

The discussions centred on the UAE's commitment to invest $1.4 trillion in the US for artificial intelligence infrastructure, semiconductors, energy and manufacturing.

Earlier this week in Washington at the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Forum, Dr Al Jaber reflected on the unique opportunities unfolding for countries around the world – chiefly the burgeoning AI sector.

In March, Mr Vance praised the UAE's focus on AI at the American Dynamism Summit.

“One of the things they [UAE] consistently hammer upon … is that if you want to lead in artificial intelligence, you have got to be leading in energy production,” he said.

Over the past decade, the UAE − the Arab world’s second largest economy − has been working to become an AI frontrunner as it diversifies its economy away from oil.

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

Through the creation of language models such as Falcon Arabic, the UAE has also sought to ensure aspects of Arabic culture are not left behind in the AI surge, with many large language models based on English-language data.

In 2019, the UAE announced the establishment of a university dedicated to AI, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence. Several years before, the UAE was among the first in the world to appoint an AI Minister, Omar Al Olama.