Palantir vice president: New joint venture with Dubai Holding is 'part of AI arms race'

Aither platform aims to drive transformation of public and private sectors in Dubai

US AI and data mining company Palantir has announced its first joint venture in the UAE. Reuters

Artificial intelligence data mining company Palantir's joint venture with Dubai Holding is “part of an AI arms race” and investment boom, according to its executive vice president Noam Perski.

Palantir and Dubai Holding have launched a platform called Aither in an attempt to drive the AI-powered transformation of public and private sectors in Dubai.

It is the US company's first joint venture in the UAE.

Aither will combine Palantir's technology with Dubai Holding's local knowledge of the market to enhance operational efficiency, strengthen competitiveness and unlock new sources of value creation, the companies said in a statement on Tuesday.

Officials signing the agreement to launch Aither. From left to right: Noam Perski, executive vice president, Palantir; Mohamed Al Hussaini, UAE Minister of State for Financial Affairs, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed, chairman of Dubai Holding; and Amit Kaushal, group chief executive officer of Dubai Holding. Photo: Dubai Holding

“I have very rarely been this excited about a partner,” Mr Perski told The National. “To do these things right, you need very smart people that are very focused on outcomes. And I think we found that.”

Palantir chief executive Alex Karp has previously referred to his company being in an AI arms race with competitors after striking a deal with telecoms company Lumen Technologies last month.

Mr Perski said the UAE is similar to the US – a major player in AI adoption – in understanding the “existential nature” of the AI investment boom.

“There's this visceral understanding that those that don't [invest] will absolutely get left behind, and we won't have a chance to make our imprint on what this looks like,” he said.

Mr Perski pointed to Dubai's investment in AI infrastructure. The UAE has made significant investments and partnerships in AI as part of its efforts to diversify its economy and become a global technological hub, including a $15.2 billion investment by Microsoft to support its AI and cloud infrastructure development.

“So what we're doing is taking this technical platform that basically you plug into an enterprise, right? That lets you bring AI into the heart of an enterprise, and then you very quickly can apply it across everything that you do.”

The companies said the joint venture will support the Dubai Economic Agenda D33. Aither will also localise the economic value of Palantir's technologies, help develop national talent and establish governance frameworks intended to guide AI implementation across the local commercial landscape.

The announcement came a day after Palantir reported its fourth-quarter earnings, in which it beat analysts' estimates.

Palantir said it expects revenue of roughly $1.33 billion for the quarter compared to the $1.19 billion expected by analysts, according to LSEG data. It said it now expects between $4.396 billion to $4.4 billion in sales for the full year, raising it from its earlier expectations of between $4.142 billion and $4.15 billion.

Mr Karp said the speed at which Palantir is growing is forcing it to “really be judicious about where we invest our energy”, arguing that a less-focused approach means the company would not be able to grow as fast as possible.

“We're being very selective, and the Emirates is one of the markets where we've made a very conscious decision to invest because we have a lot of belief in the alignment of the Emirates with what's possible with these technologies.”

Palantir's revenue from US government contracts rose 52 per cent to $486 million, while its US commercial segment saw year-on-year growth climb 121 per cent to $397 million.

The defence tech firm has faced criticism for its deals including with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

ICE also granted the Denver, Colorado-based software company a contract to develop a surveillance platform targeting people in the US without authorisation.

Mr Perski said technologies critical to national infrastructure must be owned by people whose priorities “are very aligned with the countries and cultures that they're in”, noting that the data will stay in the UAE and be operated by those who live in the country.

“We build very powerful technologies and we believe that those technologies need to be controlled by the governments … that we operate in,” Mr Perski said.

“And so this whole intention is, how do you create a sovereign version of these very powerful technologies that's secure and able to be controlled by the Emirates in this case.

“That's a big that's a big part of the reason for doing this in this joint venture form. We want to provide that assuredness.”