Dubai's World Government Summit to Focus on AI

Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the World Government Summit Foundation Mohammad al-Gergawi during the press conference. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the World Government Summit Foundation Mohammad al-Gergawi during the press conference. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Dubai's World Government Summit to Focus on AI

Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the World Government Summit Foundation Mohammad al-Gergawi during the press conference. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the World Government Summit Foundation Mohammad al-Gergawi during the press conference. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The World Government Summit, set to begin on Feb. 12 in Dubai, will focus on artificial intelligence (AI).

This year's edition will discuss six main topics and 15 forums discussing future trends and transformations. It will feature over 110 interactive dialogues.

Themed Shaping Future Governments, the Summit brings together thought leaders, experts, and decision-makers from around the world.

More than 4,000 participants from the public and private sectors will participate in 110 interactive sessions. They 200 speakers from 80 international, regional, and intergovernmental organizations, including the UN, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Arab League, and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Minister of Cabinet Affairs Mohammed al-Gergawi said the new World Government Summit 2024 session brings together heads of state and governments, ministers, and heads of international organizations.

Gergawi stated during a press conference on Tuesday that the World Government Summit also hosts global leaders from the private sector, including CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman, CEO of Airbus Guillaume Faury, founder and CEO of NVIDIA Jensen Huang, co-and founder of Schmidt Futures and former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt.

He stated that the World Government Summit and an elite group of partners will launch a series of 25 strategic reports focusing on the most important practices and trends in vital sectors.

Ministerial meetings

The Summit hosts 15 global forums focusing on developing strategies and plans in the most vital sectors.

It is being organized in partnership with several international organizations and global technological institutions, in addition to institutions concerned with innovating new solutions to human societies' challenges.

The World Government Summit 2024 will continue its various dialogues through the Artificial Intelligence Forum, the Future of Work Forum, the Emerging Economies Forum, the Geotechnology Governance Forum, the Sustainable Development Goals Forum, the Arab Meeting for Young Leaders, and the Time 100 gala.

The Summit also hosts discussions and dialogues to anticipate the formation of future governments. They include round table meetings that bring together leaders of countries, global officials, international organizations, thought leaders, and the private sector.

The meetings aim to strengthen international cooperation, identify innovative solutions to future challenges, anticipate the most prominent opportunities, and inspire successive generations.

Arab finance ministers will also hold a meeting at the Summit, labor ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will hold consultative meetings, and the energy minister will discuss the future of hydrogen energy.

Six themes

The Summit will focus on six main themes, including enhancing the pace of growth and change for effective governments, artificial intelligence, and new future horizons, and the new vision for development and coming economies.

The themes will also address the future of education, and the aspirations of tomorrow's societies, sustainability, and new global transformations, urban expansion and priorities, and global health.

Enhancing the pace of growth and change for effective governments is gaining traction at a time when global governments have accelerated their transformative digital initiatives and their reliance on technology in various fields.

It contributed to developing a system of new opportunities and many challenges.

Future policies should contribute to addressing the digital divide and ensure no one is left behind in the face of accelerating global changes.

The theme of artificial intelligence and new future horizons will focus on regulating this technology, designing it ethically, and identifying emerging trends.



Microsoft Faces UK Lawsuit over Cloud Computing Licenses

A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
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Microsoft Faces UK Lawsuit over Cloud Computing Licenses

A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)

Microsoft faces legal action in Britain over a claim that thousands of businesses using cloud computing services provided by Amazon, Google and Alibaba could be paying higher license fees to use Windows Server software.

Competition lawyer Maria Luisa Stasi filed a case at the Competition Appeal Tribunal on Tuesday, claiming that British businesses and organizations could collectively be owed more than 1 billion pounds ($1.27 billion) in compensation.

"Put simply, Microsoft is punishing UK businesses and organizations for using Google, Amazon and Alibaba for cloud computing by forcing them to pay more money for Windows Server," she said.

"By doing so, Microsoft is trying to force customers into using its cloud computing service Azure and restricting competition in the sector."

Separately, Britain's competition regulator is investigating cloud computing, a market dominated by Amazon's AWS, Microsoft's Azure and, to a lesser extent, Google Cloud Platform.

Microsoft's licensing practices, for example for its Windows Server and Microsoft 365 products, are part of its inquiry.

It is due to update on its investigation imminently.

Microsoft in 2020 introduced new license fees for running its software on major cloud providers.

The claim alleges it then used the fees to induce customers to use its Azure platform.

Data from the Competition and Markets Authority published in May showed Microsoft was winning customers at a significantly higher rate than other cloud providers since it made the licensing change.

The United States Federal Trade Commission last week opened a broad antitrust investigation into Microsoft, including its cloud computing business, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The FTC is examining allegations the software giant was potentially abusing its market power in productivity software by imposing punitive licensing terms to prevent customers from moving from Azure to competitive platforms, sources said last month.