London to get boost from Microsoft AI hub

London's status as a centre of technological innovation and excellence received a boost on Monday with the announcement that Microsoft intends to build an artificial intelligence hub in the UK capital.

The tech giant said it will start recruiting AI engineers for the hub at Paddington, and is “actively hiring exceptional individuals who want to work on the most interesting and challenging AI questions of our time”, Mustafa Suleyman, chief executive of Microsoft AI, said in a blog post.

The new London hub will be run by Jordan Hoffmann, an AI engineer who worked with Mr Suleyman when they were both at Google DeepMind and Infection AI.

“I’m deeply aware of the extraordinary talent pool and AI ecosystem in the UK,” Mr Suleyman said.

“I know, through my close work with thought leaders in the UK government, business community and academia, that the country is committed to advancing AI responsibly and with a safety-first commitment to drive investment, innovation and economic growth.”

The Microsoft AI London hub adds to the tech giant's existing presence in the UK, which includes the Microsoft Research Cambridge lab.

At the same time, it complements Microsoft’s £2.5 billion investment aimed at upskilling the British workforce for the advent of AI and building the infrastructure to power the AI economy, including bringing 20,000 of the most advanced graphic processors (GPUs) to the UK by 2026.

London attracts AI

Microsoft's move illustrates the growing magnetism of London as a place for the business of advanced technology, and especially AI.

Just last year, ChatGPT developer Open AI made London the destination for its first office outside the US, and C3.ai relocated its European headquarters from Paris to London.

Meanwhile, the biotech company Recursion Pharmaceuticals announced last month that it will open an AI unit in the King's Cross area of London in June.

Mustafa Suleyman, chief executive of Microsoft AI, said the company will start recruiting AI engineers for the new hub at Paddington. AFP

In November, the UK hosted the first world AI Summit, with politicians, tech leaders, diplomats and entrepreneurs gathering at the famous Bletchley Park site, where top British codebreakers once cracked Nazi Germany's “Enigma” code.

The summit aimed to take steps to create a set of global guiding principles in the development of AI.

The UK government asked its regulators to publish plans by the end of April for responding to AI risks and opportunities, with instructions to produce binding requirements for most advanced general-purpose AI systems.

In February it said developers building the most advanced AI systems must be accountable for making these technologies sufficiently safe.

The biog

Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.

The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.

As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau

He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.

If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah

THE SIXTH SENSE

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Tonight's Chat on The National

Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.

Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.

Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.

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Abu Dhabi tower demolition: calls for more clarity on tenant rights

Armies of Sand

By Kenneth Pollack (Oxford University Press)

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Electric scooters: some rules to remember

Riders must be 14-years-old or over
Wear a protective helmet
Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
Do not drive outside designated lanes

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At this rate, Lebanon may not survive to see its 100th birthday

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London to get boost from Microsoft AI hub

The tech firm's AI boss Mustafa Suleyman says it will advertise roles for 'exceptional individuals'