In February 2024, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the UAE could serve as the world’s “regulatory sandbox” to test artificial intelligence. Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s first official trip to the United States in September 2024 aimed to push the United Arab Emirates-U.S. relationship to a new “geo-economic phase” centered on economic growth and innovation..,

Microsoft has invested  $1.5 billion investment in the UAE’s top artificial intelligence firm, G42, in April.   BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners, Microsoft and the Mubadala-backed MGX investment company also recently announced the Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership, underscoring the UAE’s strategic focus on U.S. technology and AI to drive future economic growth…The United States and the UAE have a trade and investment partnership that spans more than five decades. In 2023, bilateral trade between the UAE and the U.S. was worth around $31.4 billion, with U.S. exports to the UAE exceeding $24.8 billion, according to the UAE Embassy in Washington, D.C. The UAE, which produces nearly 4% of the world’s oil supply, also has investments in the United States that total $1 trillion. The UAE sovereign wealth funds including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Mubadala are major investors in American real estate, infrastructure and technology sectors.

The UAE has remained a key strategic defense and security partner to Washington, playing host to the American air base in Al Dhafra, while working as a key partner alongside the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq….

On the systemic discrimination against women at the UAE, see letter of Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch has documented numerous incidents of enforced disappearances by the UAE in recent years, including the case of three Emirati sisters who were forcibly disappeared in 2015 after posting comments critical of the government on social media. Human Rights Watch has also documented cases of denial of adequate medical care to women who have since died or attempted suicide

Excerpt from Emma Graham and Dan Murphy, UAE hoping to expand $1 trillion partnership with U.S. through AI, Investment, CNBC, Sept. 20, 2024