The US government has approved the export of advanced AI chips to the UAE as part of a partnership with Emirati AI firm G42. Earlier this year, Microsoft invested $1.5 billion in G42, giving the U.S. company a minority stake. According to the deal, G42 will utilize Microsoft’s cloud services to operate its AI chip modules.
However, the deal was inspected after raising concerns that G42 could transfer powerful U.S. AI technology to China. They asked to assess U.S. G42’s deal with the Chinese Communist Party, military and government before the Microsoft deal was expected to begin.
The US officials said that AI systems could pose security risks to the nation. The Biden administration required the AI systems to share the report with the US government. G42 said it was working with US partners and its government to comply with Microsoft’s AI development and deployment standards concerning its ties to China.
According to an Axios report, the approved export license mandates that Microsoft must restrict access to its facility in the UAE for personnel from countries under US arms embargoes and those listed on the US Bureau of Industry and Security’s Entity List.
