Microsoft’s (MSFT.O) $1.5 billion investment in artificial intelligence firm G42 is seen as a “positive development” by a White House official because it prompted the United Arab Emirates-based company to sever its ties with China’s Huawei.
“In a region like the UAE, where G42 had close ties with Huawei, for instance, we are interested in altering that dynamic,” said White House technology advisor Tarun Chhabra.
“The move to partner with Microsoft as an alternative to Huawei is generally viewed as a positive development and one that we want to promote,” Chhabra stated during an event in Washington, D.C. hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.
For years, Washington has sought to persuade allies to exclude Huawei from their telecommunications networks due to concerns that the Chinese company could engage in espionage on behalf of Beijing. The Middle East is increasingly becoming a focal point in the technological rivalry between the United States and China, particularly as competition intensifies over dominance in artificial intelligence.
Under the terms of the agreement announced in April, G42 will utilize Microsoft cloud services for its AI applications, with both companies providing security assurances to the U.S. and UAE governments.
According to The New York Times, the deal includes safeguards for AI products shared with G42, including commitments to remove Chinese equipment, including Huawei’s, from the Emirati firm’s operations.
Chhabra also mentioned that the Biden administration is closely monitoring the deployment of AI systems and indicated that export controls on proprietary or closed-source AI models are under consideration.
“We are closely following the latest models as they are released, whether they are open source or proprietary,” he remarked. “We want to understand their capabilities.”
