Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been raising a lot of questions over the last years. Questions such as
Will AI outsmart humans?
And if yes, when will it happen?
What should we be concerned about when this happens?
are frequently raised by researchers in all kinds of different fields. In fact, there is no law of physics that says we can’t build machines more intelligent than we are (Tegmark, 2017). One country specifically seems to outrun the rest of the world when it comes to answering this question.
The city that has arguably had the largest growth in the world over the last decade has made another huge step this week. The ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has appointed Omar Bin Sultan al-Olama, as State Minister for Artificial Intelligence. This makes the UAE the first country to have a state minister for AI. It is also a huge step into a future that once seemed to be very far away. Having lived in Dubai myself, I am not surprised to see that the UAE is the first to appoint a minister for AI. The country, but specifically Dubai, has progressed tremendously over the last decade; going from a small desert city to one of the most modern and popular cities around the world. Everywhere you look in Dubai, one can see technologies that are still unexplored in the rest of the world. “We want the UAE to become the world’s most prepared country for artificial intelligence,” (Al Arabiya, 2017).
When I first arrived in Dubai, the first thing I noticed, after the ridiculous heat, was that the metros and trams did not have any drivers. Compared to what I had seen in the Netherlands, it felt a bit like stepping into the future. After having spoken to some locals I discovered that these metros were not only self-driven but also used Machine Learning to estimate how long they should wait at each station and how long it would take them to get to the next station. This allowed the predicted arrival time at each station to be correct to nearly the exact second.
Besides the transportation, AI is starting to be used for more and more functions around the city, such as safety, healthcare, and education. While the rest of the world is struggling to even understand what it is and how to use it in everyday life, the UAE seems to embrace Artificial Intelligence and use it for a sustainable future of the country. It raised the question:
Which countries will be next to follow? Are there are other hidden AI hubs?
Are there are other hidden AI hubs?
Sources:
English.alarabiya.net. (2017). UAE appoints minsters for AI, Advanced Sciences in new cabinet reshuffle. [online] Available at: https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/10/19/UAE-says-to-announce-government-reshuffle.html [Accessed 20 Oct. 2017].
Russell, S. (2017). Artificial intelligence: The future is superintelligent. [online] Available at: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v548/n7669/full/548520a.html [Accessed 20 Oct. 2017].
