Biden to discuss Gaza, Sudan, AI with UAE President

19/9/2024 5:52

        U.S. President Joe Biden
        will welcome United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin
        Zayed Al Nahyan to the White House on Monday for talks on issues
        ranging from the war in Gaza, Sudan and responsible artificial
        intelligence development.
        
        White House spokesperson John Kirby said the visit would be
        the first-ever by a president of the Gulf Arab country to
        Washington, adding that Vice President Kamala Harris would meet
        separately with the UAE leader.
        
        The United States has been increasingly concerned about the
        UAE and other Middle Eastern countries becoming a conduit for
        advanced U.S. AI technology reaching China, which it fears could
        use the technology to bolster its military.
        
        Last year, the Biden administration imposed sweeping new
        curbs on AI chip exports in a bid to cut off more avenues for
        China to obtain them, slapping a licensing requirement on their
        shipment to the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries.
        
        But Microsoft's $1.5 billion investment, announced in
        April, in UAE-based artificial intelligence firm G42 has fueled
        concerns among China hardliners in Congress as to whether those
        controls go far enough.
        
        Republican lawmakers asked the Biden administration for
        an intelligence assessment of the deal over concerns the U.S.
        company planned to export the otherwise severely restricted AI
        semiconductor chips to train models as well as AI model weights.
        
        G42 said in February it divested its investments in China
        and was accepting constraints imposed on it by the United States
        to work with U.S. companies.
        
        Currently, nothing is stopping U.S. AI giants from selling
        AI model weights to almost anyone in the world without
        government oversight, though Reuters reported in May that the
        Commerce Department was considering rules to restrict the export
        of proprietary or closed-source AI.
        
        The meetings would also focus on climate, clean energy and
        UAE's role as a partner in the Group of Seven's global
        infrastructure partnership, Kirby told reporters.