Tuesday, November 7, 2023 – Washington, D.C.

The U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council hosted a luncheon conversation on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, with Talal Al Kaissi, EVP – Chief Product & Global Partnerships Officer at Core42. Core42 is a newly created subsidiary of G42, which is a leading AI and cloud computing company based in Abu Dhabi.
 
Mr. Al Kaissi recalled his 9 year tenure at the U.A.E. Embassy’s Trade & Commercial Office and commended the work of the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council in advancing bilateral trade between both countries. In explaining the genesis of Core42, Mr. Al Kaissi first provided the audience of industry representatives an overview of G42 and explained that although G42 is a young company, it “much like the U.A.E., punches above its weight” in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. He gave an overview of G42 and noted its focus on AI and cloud computing. He underscored that G42 works in industry verticals such as health care, energy, and financial services along with catering to the public sector and provides services across the entire Enterprise AI value chain.
The U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council hosted a luncheon conversation on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, with Talal Al Kaissi, EVP – Chief Product & Global Partnerships Officer at Core42. Core42 is a newly created subsidiary of G42, which is a leading AI and cloud computing company based in Abu Dhabi.
 
Mr. Al Kaissi recalled his 9 year tenure at the U.A.E. Embassy’s Trade & Commercial Office and commended the work of the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council in advancing bilateral trade between both countries. In explaining the genesis of Core42, Mr. Al Kaissi first provided the audience of industry representatives an overview of G42 and explained that although G42 is a young company, it “much like the U.A.E., punches above its weight” in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. He gave an overview of G42 and noted its focus on AI and cloud computing. He underscored that G42 works in industry verticals such as health care, energy, and financial services along with catering to the public sector and provides services across the entire Enterprise AI value chain.   
 
Mr. Al Kaissi described AI as a transformational technology and spoke of the confluence of data, compute infrastructure, and applied AI research that give AI “the ability to recognize patterns and produce insights and predictions.” He highlighted generative AI and its ability to reshape our lives and be used for societal advancement and good. Talal noted the recent formation of Core42, which he described as being the “core enabler” of G42. 
 
Mr. Al Kaissi explained that the recent merger that produced Core42 is designed to position G42  as a global leader in AI and digital technology. He highlighted recent partnerships with U.S. companies Cerebras, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, VAST, and others. Here, Core42 is leveraging these companies’ best practices creating a compelling combined value proposition for joint customers. Core42 plans to work with hyperscalers on sovereign enablement, and partners like Cerebras, Nvidia, VAST, and others on the AI compute infrastructure side. 
 
In addition to highlighting these U.S. partnerships, Mr. Al Kaissi noted G42’s JV with Etisalat, Khazna Data Centers, the MENA region’s largest data center operator. He also mentioned Jais, the world’s most advanced Arabic Large Language Model (LLM). Mr. Al Kaissi remarked that Jais is a “direct product of U.S.-U.A.E. collaboration” as Jais is trained on Cerebras and G42’s Condor Galaxy platform with a combined team of data scientists and engineers. Mr. Al Kaissi highlighted G42’s heathcare-focused company M42 and its innovative work, including its partnership with Illumina. He noted the Emirati Genome Program as being one of the most ambitious initiatives of its kind globally and one that will be revolutionary in improving medical outcomes. Furthermore, he mentioned AIQ, a joint venture with ADNOC, that is accelerating AI-driven advancements within the global industrial and energy sector, as well as Bayanat, which applies AI in the geospatial domain, and Presight, which is focused on business intelligence and big data analytics.         

During the question and answer session with Business Council President Danny Sebright, the topics of sustainability, AI regulations, and China were raised. Mr. Al Kaissi said that G42 is hoping to create a gold standard for the responsible deployment of AI infrastructure akin to the U.S.-U.A.E. 123 Agreement for the peaceful use of nuclear energy, widely considered the worldwide gold standard in nuclear energy regulation. He also noted that G42 will have a presence at COP28 and is working on meaningful ways to infuse AI in supporting climate action initiatives. Mr. Al Kaissi reaffirmed that U.S. industry provides the best opportunities for positioning the company as a global leader in cloud computing in AI.   
 
Mr. Al Kaissi confirmed plans for G42 to establish offices in the United States. G42 plans to expand partnerships with U.S. companies such as Microsoft as they look to build out their AI ecosystem. He concluded by asking U.S. companies to “think outside the box” on partnerships with Core42 and think how to leverage the U.A.E.’s open lab environment, national-scale programs, and access to unique data sets to partner with a national champion like G42 and unlock value jointly in multiple domains. He also encouraged U.S. companies to carry the message that G42 seeks to play a meaningful role in the future of AI in a responsible way that is rooted in partnership.

For more information about this event, please contact Amira Siddiqi at asiddiqi@usuaebusiness.org