UAE among few places in world where businesses want to relocate, say AI startup founders
Artificial intelligence (AI) is still considered 'a fancy word' in some parts of the world, but the UAE means business and is leading in building solutions for the region and the world, said industry players.
Speaking during the Dubai AI Week on Monday, the startup founder said Dubai and UAE are among the few places in the world where companies want to relocate amidst global geopolitical issues. The ongoing tariff war between the US, China, and other countries has caused uncertainty globally in terms of policies and taxes. The UAE enjoys the status of a tax haven as there is no income tax in the country.
'Dubai has always been early when it comes to AI. The UAE set up the Ministry of AI before anywhere else on the planet. It shows the maturity and insight into what this region is thinking about.
"As we have grown, what good I've seen is that the UAE ecosystem has started moving away from fancy to real business use cases, which will matter a lot. There are zones and hot spots in the world where AI is still a fancy word. It's refreshing to see that in the UAE, it's a means of business, and this is the ecosystem that we want to integrate,' Akshat Prakash, CTO and co-founder of Camb.ai, said during a panel discussion at the Dubai AI Week on Monday.
Prakash added that the UAE is the best amalgamation of the Eastern and Western worlds, culturally and geographically, because it is a highly multicultural society .'Geographically, given the political climate of the world, there remain few places that you want to relocate to and build a company. To state very unapologetically, if you look at Asia, Europe, Africa and other regions, Dubai stands out in terms of attracting talent. When we relocated to Dubai, nobody said 'no' to relocating here in our team. Cultural and geographical aspects are strong that put Dubai at the forefront and next hub for AI,' Camb.ai's co-founder said during the panel discussion.
Nuha Hashem, co-founder of CozmoX AI, said during the dotcom era, there was a gap in terms of adopting technology in this part of the world.
'What you see in terms of technology companies here, they started building AI even before it became a hot topic. They are not just building solutions for region but for global audiences. We are seeing a shift where the gap is becoming smaller. Dubai is doing the right thing by attracting talent to build AI solutions here. They have resources and opportunities to build the future right from the region,' she said during the panel discussion on the topic of 'Fueling the Future: Investing in AI Startups within Dubai's Ecosystem.'
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