Guests entertained by a robot at the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) inaugural commencement ceremony in Abu Dhabi. Khushnum Bhandari / The National
Guests entertained by a robot at the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) inaugural commencement ceremony in Abu Dhabi. Khushnum Bhandari / The National
Guests entertained by a robot at the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) inaugural commencement ceremony in Abu Dhabi. Khushnum Bhandari / The National
Insight and opinion from The National’s editorial leadership
May 01, 2023
Napoleon was not known for being a good loser. But in 1809, when he was defeated (several times, in fact) by a machine in a game of chess, he reacted with uncharacteristic amusement. Contrast that with the alarm that has been expressed by tech experts in recent weeks over the near certainty with which they estimate we have entered the age of artificial intelligence, and you may wonder how the French emperor was so calm.
For one thing, although Napoleon couldn’t be sure of it at the time, the machine that beat him, the “Mechanical Turk”, was little more than a confidence trick – a wooden box with fake gears that concealed a human chess playerpulling levers in a hidden compartment. For another, there was no widespread fear in early 19th century Europe more Mechanical Turks were out there, poised to render humans unemployed or even entirely servile.
We are still at a moment in history where there are plenty of things only humans can do, or at least do at a lower cost. And even the rise of AI, so far, has seemingly created more jobs than it has destroyed. So-called “human-intelligence tasks” – from moderating social media posts to identifying objects in blurry photographs – are big business for multinational tech firms looking to use them to train algorithms. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world work part-time to carry them out (many of them employed through an Amazon-owned service called Mechanical Turk).
But many experts fear that the scope of human-only work is fast diminishing. Companies like OpenAI (the firm behind the renowned chatbot ChatGPT) and Google’s DeepMind have brought us ever nearer to a tipping point where AI will permanently define humanity’s future.
Ensuring that our development of AI does not ultimately come at our expense is a challenge that AI ethicists refer to as the “alignment problem”: how can we align AI’s goals with what’s best for us, and harness its power for human flourishing?
We are still at a moment in history where there are plenty of things only humans can do
Broadly speaking, solving alignment will require much more global co-operation. Gary Marcus, an emeritus professor at New York University, and Anka Reuel, a doctoral student at Stanford, have called for the creation of an international agency for artificial intelligence. Given wildly disparate approaches to the technology as things stand, getting everyone on the same page makes sense.
But in a narrower sense, individual countries can establish their own public infrastructure devoted to putting AI near the top of the national agenda – not only to regulate it, but also to bring its most beneficial qualities to life. Too few are doing this. However, an excellent template can be found in the UAE, which rolled out a national AI strategy back in 2017 and today has both a ministerial portfolio and a public university devoted to understanding AI (two world firsts).
On Saturday, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology Dr Sultan Al Jaber said during a visit to Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, where he is chairman, that the country’s artificial intelligence research and its adoption across industries will be critical not only in achieving the country’s economic diversification goals, but also in helping it combat climate change.
Partnering with the private sector is an important part of the UAE’s AI strategy. Dr Al Jaber was joined in his visit by Peng Xiao, chief executive of G42, an AI company, and was updated on a joint project between MBZUAI and computer company IBM that will use data engines to help Abu Dhabi emirate hone its climate policies.
But the defining quality of the UAE’s vision as a global hub for AI research and development is that it views progress in this area fundamentally through the lens of the public good. Building a coherent AI strategy and designing the national infrastructure necessary to achieve it is a critical first step in solving the alignment problem, and to ensuring that however astonishing the technology becomes, the levers remain pulled by humans.
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
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.”
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas)
