The UAE has been aggressive in pursuing a varied energy mix that will complement its artificial intelligence ambitions, the country's commercial attache to the US said on Tuesday.
Jawaher Almheiri, who leads economic policy for the UAE embassy in Washington, made the comments while taking part in a panel discussion about Pax Silica, a US initiative aimed at securing technology supplies crucial for building AI and maintaining infrastructure with the help of partner countries.
"The UAE has taken actions to create a diverse energy mix," Ms Almheiri said, referring to the needs of data centres under construction in the country with the help of the US. "We've invested in low-carbon fuels, commercially viable renewables and nuclear power."
She that the UAE had been hard at work on plans to integrate AI long before the technology dominated headlines. For example, the UAE appointed its first AI minister in 2017 – Omar Al Olama, now the UAE's Minister of State for AI, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications.
Ms Almheiri also reflected on the continuing US-UAE AI acceleration working group.
"Within that framework, UAE companies has committed to expand its AI investments in the US ... a huge chunk of that includes data centres, digital infrastructure and energy projects," she said, referring to companies including XRG, Masdar and 2PointZero.
Hours earlier, the US military's Central Command announced a bilateral AI task force, based in Abu Dhabi.
The initiative, Task Force Talon Synapse, will focus "on accelerating the development of military artificial intelligence applications", according to Centcom.
Ms Almheiri said that now more than ever, the UAE is investing in "every layer of the US AI ecosystem".
Tuesday's Pax Silica forum was organised by the US Energy Association, a non-partisan forum for the energy industry.
Ms Almheiri was joined in the panel discussion by Carlos Pineda Cruz, minister counselor for El Salvador's embassy in Washington, and Shay Podoler, director of regulatory trade policy for Israel's mission to the US.
The UAE, El Salvador and Israel are all members of the Pax Silica coalition, which the White House has described as a way to blunt China’s potential dominance of the technology supply chain amid the race for AI dominance.
