عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Technology

Albudaiwi: GCC States Have Given Increasing Attention to AI Sector

Albudaiwi highlighted the GCC General Secretariat's commitment to building fruitful partnerships with regional and international centers in the field of AI. (File Photo)
Albudaiwi highlighted the GCC General Secretariat's commitment to building fruitful partnerships with regional and international centers in the field of AI. (File Photo)
TT
TT

Albudaiwi: GCC States Have Given Increasing Attention to AI Sector

Albudaiwi highlighted the GCC General Secretariat's commitment to building fruitful partnerships with regional and international centers in the field of AI. (File Photo)
Albudaiwi highlighted the GCC General Secretariat's commitment to building fruitful partnerships with regional and international centers in the field of AI. (File Photo)

Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Jasem Albudaiwi said that the leaders of the GCC foresaw the future and worked to achieve integration and convergence in various fields. They emphasized that the journey of cooperation should not be confined to specific areas but should encompass everything that touches human life, security, development, and the economy.

Accordingly, the GCC states have given increasing attention to the AI sector, recognizing its pivotal role in shaping the features of the new global economy.

His statement was made during his participation in the Parliamentary Legislative Forum "Best Legislative Practices in the Field of Artificial Intelligence," held on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi.

He explained that the estimates of the GCC states' investments in this sector have reached tens of billions of dollars over the past few years, with ambitious plans to increase these investments to hundreds of billions by 2030.

This reflects our countries' strategic direction towards building a knowledge-based economy founded on innovation and advanced technologies, and bolstering the region's position as a leading global hub in this field.

Here, the role of legislation becomes prominent in building renewable legal frameworks that strike a balance between two fundamental matters: encouraging innovation and openness to development, as well as protecting rights and human and societal values.

Albudaiwi also highlighted the GCC General Secretariat's commitment to building fruitful partnerships with regional and international centers in the field of AI.

These include the International Center for Artificial Intelligence Research and Ethics (ICAIRE), which is affiliated with the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as cooperation with leading international organizations such as WIPO and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). This cooperation has led to joint Gulf workshops and events, contributing to the exchange of expertise and capacity building.

He touched upon the initiative of the General Secretariat and the approval of the Ministerial Committee for Digital Government to form a team concerned with artificial intelligence and emerging technologies in June 2021.

This team works to support research and development among GCC countries in this field, improve digital government services, and create a flexible regulatory and legislative environment that responds to future requirements.

The secretary-general underscored that the current stage requires the formulation of an integrated vision that elevates cooperation between legislative councils, governments, the private sector, civil society, and academic institutions.

He added that our responsibility today is not limited to enacting new laws, but extends to shaping a social and legislative contract that places the human being at the heart of the AI equation.

He expressed hope that the forum would produce practical recommendations that enhance Gulf legislative cooperation and support the exchange of experiences with international partners to keep pace with the future and ensure the responsible use of AI.

Most Viewed

 
 
Technology

Apple, Google Send New Round of Cyber Threat Notifications to Users Around World

The Apple logo is seen in this illustration taken September 24, 2025. (Reuters)
The Apple logo is seen in this illustration taken September 24, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Apple, Google Send New Round of Cyber Threat Notifications to Users Around World

The Apple logo is seen in this illustration taken September 24, 2025. (Reuters)
The Apple logo is seen in this illustration taken September 24, 2025. (Reuters)

Apple and Google have sent a new round of cyber threat notifications to users around the world, the companies said this week, announcing their latest effort to insulate customers against surveillance threats.

Apple and the Alphabet-owned Google are two of several tech companies that regularly issue warnings to users when they determine they may have been targeted by state-backed hackers.

Apple said the warnings were issued on Dec. 2 but gave few further details about the alleged hacking activity and did not address questions about the number of users targeted or say who was thought to be conducting the surveillance.

Apple said that "to date we have notified users in over 150 countries in total."

Apple's statement follows Google's Dec. 3 announcement that it was warning all known users targeted using Intellexa spyware, which it said spanned "several hundred accounts across various countries, including Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Angola, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, and Tajikistan."

Google said in its announcement that Intellexa, a cyber intelligence company that is sanctioned by the US government, was "evading restrictions and thriving."

Executives tied to Intellexa did not immediately return messages.

Previous waves of warnings have triggered headlines and prompted investigations by government bodies, including the European Union, whose senior officials have previously been targeted using spyware.

Threat notifications impose costs on cyber spies by alerting victims, said John Scott-Railton, a researcher with the Canadian digital watchdog group Citizen Lab.

He said they were "also often the first step in a string of investigations and discoveries that can lead to real accountability around spyware abuses."

Technology

AI Bubble to Be Short-lived, Rebound Stronger, NTT DATA Chief Says

FILE PHOTO: Figurines with computers and smartphones are seen in front of the words "Artificial Intelligence AI" in this illustration taken, February 19, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Figurines with computers and smartphones are seen in front of the words "Artificial Intelligence AI" in this illustration taken, February 19, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
TT
TT

AI Bubble to Be Short-lived, Rebound Stronger, NTT DATA Chief Says

FILE PHOTO: Figurines with computers and smartphones are seen in front of the words "Artificial Intelligence AI" in this illustration taken, February 19, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Figurines with computers and smartphones are seen in front of the words "Artificial Intelligence AI" in this illustration taken, February 19, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

A potential artificial intelligence bubble will deflate faster than past tech cycles but give way to an even stronger rebound as corporate adoption catches up with infrastructure spending, the head of Japanese IT company NTT DATA Inc. said.

Despite worries around supply chains, the direction of travel is clear, CEO Abhijit Dubey said in an interview with the Reuters Global Markets Forum.

"There is absolutely no doubt that in the medium- to long-term, AI is a massive secular trend," he said.

"Over the next 12 months, I think we're going to have a bit of a normalization ... It'll be a short-lived bubble, and (AI) will come out of it stronger."

With demand for compute still running ahead of supply, "supply chains are almost spoken for" over the next two to three years, he said. Pricing power is already tilting toward chipmakers and hyperscalers, mirroring their stretched valuations in public markets, he added.

AI has triggered the biggest technological shake-up since the advent of the internet, fueling trillions of dollars of investment and eye-watering equity gains. But it has caused shortages of memory chips, drawn regulatory scrutiny, and created growing unease over the future of work.

Dubey, who is also the firm's chief AI officer, said his company has begun rethinking recruitment strategies as AI reshapes labor markets.

"There will clearly be an impact ... Over a five- to 25-year horizon, there will likely be dislocation," he said. However, he added that NTT DATA continues to hire across locations.

Speakers at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York discussed how AI may upend work and job growth.

AI startup Writer Inc.'s CEO May Habib said customers are focused on slowing headcount growth.

"You close a customer, you get on the phone with the CEO to kick off the project, and it's like, 'Great, how soon can I whack 30% of my team?'," she said.

Still, a PwC survey of the global workforce released in November suggests the reality of generative AI usage has yet to match boardroom expectations.

Daily use of GenAI remains "significantly lower" than widely touted by executives, PwC said, even as workers with AI skills commanded an average wage premium of 56% — more than double last year's figure.

PwC also flagged a widening skills gap, with about half of non-managers reporting access to training resources, compared with roughly three-quarters of senior executives.

Technology

EU Launches Antitrust Probe into Meta over Use of AI in WhatsApp

FILE - Attendees visit the Meta booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco on March 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
FILE - Attendees visit the Meta booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco on March 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
TT
TT

EU Launches Antitrust Probe into Meta over Use of AI in WhatsApp

FILE - Attendees visit the Meta booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco on March 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
FILE - Attendees visit the Meta booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco on March 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

Brussels has opened a new antitrust investigation into Meta Platforms over its rollout of artificial intelligence features in WhatsApp, the European Commission said on Thursday, reflecting rising scrutiny of Big Tech's use of generative AI.

The move, reported earlier by Reuters and the Financial Times, marks the latest action by European regulators against large technology firms as the bloc seeks to balance support for the sector with efforts to curb its expanding influence.

The European Commission opened the investigation into "Meta's new policy regarding AI providers' access to WhatsApp" after the California-based company integrated its Meta AI system into the messaging service earlier this year.

A WhatsApp spokesperson said that "the claims are baseless", adding that the emergence of chatbots on its platforms "puts a strain on our systems that they were not designed to support".

"Even still, the AI space is highly competitive and people have access to the services of their choice in any number of ways, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations, and operating systems."

Meta AI, a chatbot and virtual assistant, has been built into WhatsApp's interface since March 2025 across European markets.

Italy's antitrust watchdog opened a parallel investigation in July into allegations that Meta leveraged its market power by integrating an AI tool into WhatsApp. The probe was expanded in November to examine whether Meta further abused its dominance by blocking rival AI chatbots from the messaging platform.

The FT, citing officials, said that the EU probe will be conducted under traditional antitrust rules rather than the EU's Digital Markets Act, the bloc's landmark legislation currently used to scrutinize Amazon and Microsoft's cloud services for potential curbs.