A recent US decision to significantly upgrade the UAE's export status will bolster AI technology security, not weaken it, Core42 chief executive Talal Al Kaissi has said.
"I've seen pockets of commentary from folks saying that as a result of this well-earned recognition by the US government of the 'gold standard (as the US Department of State put it), implementation of our regulated technology environment will somehow relax our compliance and security posture," Mr Al Kaissi, who leads the unit of UAE AI company G42, said on social media on Sunday.
"This makes no sense and is inaccurate."
He referred to his recent appearance on stage at the Aspen Security Forum in the US, where he spoke about the US now classifying the UAE as an A5 country, making it easier to export and transfer US military equipment, satellites, spacecraft, artificial intelligence and energy technology.
"We are still going to implement what we designed with support that was heavily informed by not only the US government but our partners at Microsoft, when they made the minority investment in G42," Mr Al Kaissi says in a video of the appearance.
He said the UAE signed an intergovernmental assurance agreement that led to the design of a regulated technology environment.
"I really think it's the gold standard," Mr Al Kaissi continued. "There's a physical element involved in terms of the risk of diversion ... as well as a logical security component as it relates to any of the access to those systems."
He was explaining the UAE and US government plan to work together to keep some of the world's most powerful AI semiconductors and technologies secure.
Long before AI became the main topic for executives and world leaders, the UAE has strived to be a leader in its research and development. '
In 2019, the country announced the establishment of a university dedicated to the technology, the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence.
Two years earlier, the UAE was one of the first countries to appoint a Minister of State for AI. Omar Al Olama is now Minister of State for AI, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications.
In 2025, during President Donald Trump's visit to the UAE, plans for a 5GW UAE-US AI Campus were announced.
For months before Mr Trump's visit, UAE officials sought approval from the US to be able to buy some of the world's most powerful Nvidia semiconductors and systems necessary for AI capacity building.
Amid the global race for AI dominance, the US had closely restricted the exports of those chips to maintain the country's tech leadership and prevent potentially adversarial countries from being helped.
The US, quoting security assurances and plans to keep the technology safe, along with UAE's longtime status as a US ally, agreed to allowing the Emirates to obtain some of those very powerful semiconductors.
In May, Yousef Al Otaiba, UAE Minister of State and ambassador to the US, announced that the first shipments of Nvidia chips had arrived in the UAE.
"The UAE is all-in on American tech. We are not hedging, we are not diversifying, we're doubling down on it," he said in Washington at a technology conference.
On July 10, the US took that trust with the UAE to the next level by classifying it as an A5 country.
Mr Al Otaiba said that the elevated export designation was an affirmation of the "decades of deep and dependable UAE-US co-operation in technology, security, trade and investment".
