President Sheikh Mohamed on Sunday pledged his support for the launch of a UAE-made AI model which is being hailed as the most advanced in the world.
K2 Think – an open-source reasoning model – has been developed by Abu Dhabi's Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) in partnership with the capital's AI-focused company G42 and is set to be released in the “coming week”.
The announcement of the platform coincided with the anniversary of the birth of the late President Sheikh Khalifa on September 7, in recognition for his crucial role in championing technology and innovation in the Emirates.
Sheikh Mohamed said the UAE continues to make significant progress in advancing investment in modern technologies and harnessing their power to drive national growth.
What is AI reasoning?
AI reasoning models are viewed as the next frontier in the rapidly-evolving artificial intelligence sector.
The principles behind the model would enhance AI's ability to embrace critical thinking and in-depth decision-making to tackle complex problems and interpret a treasure trove of intricate data, using humanlike logic and thought processes.
State news agency Wam reported on Sunday that K2 Think is primed to be the “world’s most advanced open-source reasoning model”.
“Designed to be leaner and smarter, K2 Think delivers frontier-class performance in a remarkably compact form – often matching, or even surpassing, the results of models an order of magnitude larger,” Wam reported.
“The result: greater efficiency, more flexibility, and broader real-world applicability”
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology Council (AIATC), stated that the launch of K2 Think marks an important step in the UAE’s efforts to strengthen its position in advanced technologies and AI.
He praised the collaboration between MBZUAI and G42, in bringing about a significant achievement in the UAE's vision to unleash the potential of AI for the betterment of society.
"The upcoming launch of the "K2 Think" model will mark a significant step in advancing artificial intelligence from the UAE to the world, reflecting our leadership's vision for technological progress," Sheikh Tahnoon said on X.
"K2 Think will combine the efficiency of smaller models with world-class performance and superior inference speeds, surpassing larger systems to set a new global benchmark for open-source reasoning."
MBZUAI said on social media it was “deeply grateful to the UAE’s leadership for their vision and unwavering support in advancing AI, science, and technology”.
The AI partnership will serve to further cement the UAE's position as a global leader in the advancement of AI.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia were named among the top three artificial intelligence superpowers in the world in a report by a US data centre company last month.
The US led the rankings, followed by the UAE and then Saudi Arabia. The Gulf states were placed ahead of South Korea, France, India, China, the UK, Finland and Germany in the analysis, compiled by TRG Datacentres, a Texas-based company focused on national AI supercomputing power, AI company activity and government AI readiness.
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
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Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
New schools in Dubai
Christopher Robin
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Haley Atwell, Jim Cummings, Peter Capaldi
Three stars
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
AGL AWARDS
Golden Ball - best Emirati player: Khalfan Mubarak (Al Jazira)
Golden Ball - best foreign player: Igor Coronado (Sharjah)
Golden Glove - best goalkeeper: Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah)
Best Coach - the leader: Abdulaziz Al Anbari (Sharjah)
Fans' Player of the Year: Driss Fetouhi (Dibba)
Golden Boy - best young player: Ali Saleh (Al Wasl)
Best Fans of the Year: Sharjah
Goal of the Year: Michael Ortega (Baniyas)
THE%20SWIMMERS
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Pots for the Asian Qualifiers
Pot 1: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China
Pot 2: Iraq, Uzbekistan, Syria, Oman, Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic, Vietnam, Jordan
Pot 3: Palestine, India, Bahrain, Thailand, Tajikistan, North Korea, Chinese Taipei, Philippines
Pot 4: Turkmenistan, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Yemen, Afghanistan, Maldives, Kuwait, Malaysia
Pot 5: Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Guam, Macau/Sri Lanka
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
PROFILE OF CURE.FIT
Started: July 2016
Founders: Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori
Based: Bangalore, India
Sector: Health & wellness
Size: 500 employees
Investment: $250 million
Investors: Accel, Oaktree Capital (US); Chiratae Ventures, Epiq Capital, Innoven Capital, Kalaari Capital, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Piramal Group’s Anand Piramal, Pratithi Investment Trust, Ratan Tata (India); and Unilever Ventures (Unilever’s global venture capital arm)
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PSA DUBAI WORLD SERIES FINALS LINE-UP
Men’s:
Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY)
Ali Farag (EGY)
Simon Rosner (GER)
Tarek Momen (EGY)
Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL)
Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
Nick Matthew (ENG)
Women's:
Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
Raneem El Welily (EGY)
Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
Laura Massaro (ENG)
Joelle King (NZE)
Camille Serme (FRA)
Nouran Gohar (EGY)
Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
Saudi Cup race day
Schedule in UAE time
5pm: Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Motors Cup (Turf), 5.35pm: 1351 Cup (T), 6.10pm: Longines Turf Handicap (T), 6.45pm: Obaiya Arabian Classic for Purebred Arabians (Dirt), 7.30pm: Jockey Club Handicap (D), 8.10pm: Samba Saudi Derby (D), 8.50pm: Saudia Sprint (D), 9.40pm: Saudi Cup (D)
PROFILE OF INVYGO
Started: 2018
Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo
Based: Dubai
Sector: Transport
Size: 9 employees
Investment: $1,275,000
Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
