Artificial intelligence (AI) and the various innovations in this domain were the key topics in focus during Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella’s recent visit to the UAE.

Nadella was in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi in early November to speak at Microsoft’s “AI: A New Era” event, during which he also met with local business leaders, government officials, and developers in the industry.

Having got to experience first-hand how the latest advancements in cloud and AI are supporting UAE organizations across every industry, Nadella highlighted how the cutting-edge technology is unlocking new opportunities to accelerate the country’s digital economy, while also transforming the lives of its people.

Indeed, a PwC report has predicted a US$320 billion AI industry in the Middle East by 2030, and it had also singled out the UAE as likely to have the largest percentage share for AI in its economy out of any nation in the region– close to 14% of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2030.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has put itself in the forefront when it comes to advancing in AI, with its reported $13 million investment in San Francisco-based OpenAI -the creator of ChatGPT- being one of its many strategic moves in this particular sector.

“This new age of AI will drive innovation, and has the potential to expand opportunity and growth around the world- including in the UAE,” Nadella said. “It’s inspiring to see so many developers and businesses in the Emirates already applying AI to address business and societal challenges.”

As an example, Nadella pointed to the UAE Ministry of Education’s partnership with a local startup called ASI, founded by 20-year-old Quddus Pativada, to develop a personalized AI tutor that will act as an Arabic and English study companion for students.

Nadella also highlighted Jais, a large language model (LLM) in the Arabic language that has been developed by Abu Dhabi-headquartered technology group G42, which will boost the ability to create original Arabic content for close to 100 million Arabic language internet users.

Nadella’s visit to the UAE can be seen as a testament to Microsoft’s longstanding presence in the country, with it having a part of the nation for more than 30 years, and its first data center in the Middle East situated here as well.

In his keynote address at AI: A New Era, Nadella also announced that Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Azure, will be rolling out its OpenAI Service from the company’s UAE cloud datacentres soon. The service, which will be available later this month, provides access to a suite of powerful AI models, including GPT-4, Codex, and DALL-E 2, which can be used to develop innovative AI applications such as virtual assistants, content generation, code generation, image editing tools, and more.

Related: The Importance Of Continuous Learning In The Era Of Artificial Intelligence