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The Emirates Intelligencer

An Independent Daily Bulletin on Artificial-Intelligence Investment, Adoption and Deployment. Published by otonomi.co

Vol. I., No. 108 Wednesday, October 21, 2026 From the Archive
Sovereign Capital
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Abu Dhabi's MGX Reviews an AI Portfolio Built on Anthropic, Databricks and SpaceX

A routine board review has become a measure of how far Abu Dhabi's sovereign capital now reaches into the companies setting the pace in artificial intelligence.

By The Otonomi Investment Desk

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of MGX, has chaired the company's third board meeting of 2026, which reviewed the firm's recent investment activity, portfolio performance and its strategy for strengthening its position across the global artificial intelligence ecosystem. The board examined MGX's participation in Anthropic's $65 billion Series H, a round that valued the company at $965 billion, and its part in Databricks' $5 billion strategic round at a $190 billion valuation. It also discussed the firm's investment in SpaceX following the company's $85.7 billion public offering, noting accelerating revenue growth from the leasing of its growing compute capacity in support of the wider foundation model ecosystem.

In assessing portfolio performance, the board took note of revenue growth at OpenAI and Anthropic as both companies prepare for possible initial public offerings. It expressed satisfaction that current and past investments together placed MGX among the largest and most successful backers of the companies setting the pace in AI development. Looking ahead, members discussed an investment pipeline that the firm says continues to hold opportunities across the AI stack, alongside plans to potentially monetise some existing holdings to provide early liquidity to its investors.

Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of MGX, said intelligence capacity is no longer a constraint on human progress, and that the ability to harness it responsibly will define the pace and scale of future achievement. Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Jassem Mohamed Bu Ataba Al Zaabi, Peng Xiao and Martin Edelman also attended the meeting.

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Strategic Partnerships

Emirati Groups Sign AI Research and Cloud Accords With France's AMI Labs

Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and President Emmanuel Macron of France attended the UAE-France Business Dialogue at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi, an event organised around cooperation in energy, artificial intelligence and advanced technology. The two sides witnessed the signing of memoranda of understanding and contracts between Emirati and French institutions and companies.

In artificial intelligence and advanced technology, three agreements were signed with the French company AMI Labs. Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence agreed to strengthen cooperation in AI research and development and to facilitate the exchange of scientific and technological expertise. G42 agreed a framework for strategic cooperation in cloud computing infrastructure and AI models, and Analog agreed to explore opportunities to integrate AI models into robotics and physical AI applications.

The dialogue also addressed the Campus AI initiative, which brings together MGX with French and international partners to develop advanced computing and AI infrastructure in France, alongside G42's investments in advanced computing infrastructure. A panel titled Beyond Compute: AI Shaping the Future examined the growing role of artificial intelligence in reshaping economic and industrial sectors.

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Enterprise Adoption

Emirates NBD Becomes the First MENA Bank to Run OpenAI Models Inside the UAE

Emirates NBD and OpenAI announced an enterprise collaboration on 19 October that will make the Dubai-based banking group the first bank in the Middle East and North Africa to deploy OpenAI's GPT models using in-country inference infrastructure in the UAE. Access to inference inside the country allows financial institutions to adopt frontier models at enterprise scale while meeting local expectations on data residency, privacy and operational resilience.

The bank will deploy the models in four areas: intelligent customer engagement across digital channels, advanced analytics for risk and compliance, automation of knowledge-intensive workflows and employee productivity. Emirates NBD will also connect the models to its internal systems, application programming interfaces and enterprise data, which it expects to accelerate the development of new digital services, improve customer personalisation and strengthen risk monitoring and financial crime controls.

Miguel Rio-Tinto, Group Chief Digital and Information Officer at Emirates NBD, said artificial intelligence is central to the future of banking and that the group is embedding frontier capabilities directly into its operating model. Farouk El Hamzawi, Head of Enterprise at OpenAI for the Middle East and North Africa, said the arrangement sets a benchmark for how regulated institutions can deploy the technology at scale. No financial terms were disclosed.

Emirates NBD Read original source
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Further Dispatches
Public Services

UAE Cuts Tourist Tax Refunds to One Business Day With an AI Platform

The Federal Tax Authority has launched an integrated digital platform powered by artificial intelligence for value added tax refunds to tourists, developed with Planet, the authorised operator of the VAT Refund Scheme for Tourists. The platform is operational at Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi, Dubai International Airport and Sharjah International Airport, and runs entirely digital, paperless procedures supported by facial recognition.

Tourists register on the Planet mobile application by scanning their face and capturing images of their passport and bank card, then scan a dynamic QR code at airport refund service points to begin the claim. Artificial intelligence determines whether purchases require inspection. Where none is needed, the refund is disbursed through the tourist's preferred method without an in-person check. Where inspection is required, travellers are directed to smart gates that use facial recognition to confirm identity and transaction details before routing them to self-service kiosks.

The authority said the total time needed for a tourist to receive a refund fell to one business day as of October 2026 from about nine days previously, making the UAE one of the fastest countries for tourist tax refunds. Approximately Dh4.2 billion has been refunded through the scheme since its launch in 2018, across 25 million transactions. The platform also matches invoice and travel information, provides multilingual assistance selected by nationality and uses AI to detect unusual transaction patterns as part of its tax compliance controls.

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Health Regulation

Abu Dhabi Publishes World-First Rules for AI Clinician Systems

The Department of Health - Abu Dhabi has published an AI Clinician Framework, a world-first regulatory framework that sets out how AI clinician systems may ultimately be authorised to perform clinical activities that would otherwise require a licensed clinician. Mansoor Ibrahim Al Mansoori, Chairman of the department, and Dr Noura Khamis Al Ghaithi, its Undersecretary, announced the framework at the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit.

Under the framework, a system's competence is assessed against the specific clinical activities it would perform, and a wider clinical scope requires stronger evidence before it is considered. Safeguards are mandated at all levels of clinical scope, including physician oversight and accountability, and referral to a physician when needed. The framework provides the basis for future policies and standards that will define the clinical activities an AI clinician system could be authorised to perform, the evidence required at each stage and the thresholds against which it would be evaluated.

Al Mansoori said trust is the foundation on which every lasting advance in medicine is built and that the framework allows the next generation of AI clinician systems to be researched responsibly. Al Ghaithi said it sets rigorous requirements with patient safety and physician oversight at its core. Research under the framework will be conducted within Abu Dhabi's living lab model.

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