Abu Dhabi Startup News

Sam Altman is scheduled to host a live question and answer (Q&A) session on Tuesday, June 6th, at 6AM PST at the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). This dynamic session will provide an open forum where discussions on the future of AI, its opportunities, challenges, and its potential impact on the global landscape will be led by your questions. Sam Altman Abu Dhabi Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator between 2014 and 2019, and currently CEO of OpenAI, is an acknowledged leader in the global technology arena.

In a recent remarkable development, the Falcon 40B parameter Large Language Model (LLM) has clinched the top spot on the coveted Open LLM Leaderboard. An accomplishment made more extraordinary by the fact that this is the first open model developed by the team behind Falcon 40B, making a significant statement in the field of AI. The Open LLM Leaderboard, hosted by 🤗 Hugging Face, is a notable platform that ranks and evaluates LLMs and chatbots based on their performance in different evaluation tasks.

The Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan (MENAP) region, with Abu Dhabi and Dubai at the helm, is embarking on a fintech revolution. This vibrant landscape is fueled by a young demographic and bolstered by a surge in venture capital, particularly in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Bahrain. The UAE, driven by the strategic efforts of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, remains an attractive investment destination, securing 37% of total funding directed to the region in 2022.

In a bold move that amplifies the role of technology in global finance, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) have recently joined hands to strengthen their financial cooperation. The two monetary authorities held a significant bilateral meeting on May 29, aimed at enhancing collaboration between the financial services sectors of the two jurisdictions. The meeting saw a spirited discussion on several collaborative initiatives, with an agreement to enhance cooperation in three major areas - financial infrastructure, financial market connectivity, and significantly, virtual asset regulations and developments.

In a significant development in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), the emirate of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has announced the open-source availability of its large-scale AI model, Falcon 40B. This step positions the UAE as a global frontrunner, being among the first nations to make a large language model freely available for both research and commercial use. The announcement came from the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), the government body spearheading technological innovation in the emirate.