SHAREShare to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to LinkedInShare to EmailPrint This PostWith ImagesWithout ImagesLast year, the United Arab Emirates made global headlines with the release of Falcon, its open-source large language model (LLM). Remarkably, by several key metrics, Falcon managed tooutperformor measure up against the LLMs of tech giants like Meta and Alphabet.Since then, the UAE has positioned itself as a frontrunner in the global artificial-intelligence race by consistentlyreleasingupdates to its powerful model. These efforts have not gone unnoticed: in April, Microsoftacquireda $1.5 billion minority stake in G42, the UAE’s flagship AI company, underscoring the country’s growing influence.Analysts often attribute the UAE’s emergence as anAI powerhouseto several factors, including robust state support, abundant capital and low-cost electricity, all of which are necessary for training LLMs. But another important–and often overlooked–factor is the country’sauthoritarian governance model, which enables the government to leverage state power to drive technological innovation.The UAE is not alone. Authoritarian countries such as China have a built-in competitive advantage when it comes to AI development, largely owing to their reliance on domestic surveillance, which fuels demand. Facial-recognition technologies, for example, are used by these regimes not just to enhance public safety but also as powerful tools for monitoring their populations and suppressing dissent.By contrast, facial recognition has become a source of enormous controversy in the west. The European Union’sAI Act, whichentered into forceon 1 August, has effectively banned its use in public spaces, with only a few narrowly defined exceptions.This provides AI firms in China and the UAE with a massive advantage over their western counterparts. Research byDavid Yangand co-authorsshowsthat Chinese AI firms with government contracts tend to be more innovative and commercially successful, owing to procurement practices that provide them with access tovast trovesof public and private data for training and refining their models. Similarly, UAE firms have been allowed to train their models onanonymised health-care datafrom hospitals and state-backed industries.AI firms seeking access to such data in western countries would face numerous legal hurdles. While European and American companies grapple with strict compliance requirements and a surge in copyright-infringement lawsuits, firms in China and the UAE operate in a far more lenient regulatory environment.This is not to suggest that authoritarian countries do not have laws protecting data privacy or intellectual property. But the national goal of promoting AI development often takes precedence, resulting in lax enforcement.Meanwhile, consumers in authoritarian countries tend to be more supportive of AI. An Ipsos survey conducted in 2022, for example,rankedChina and Saudi Arabia–another authoritarian Gulf state with technological ambitions–as the world’s most AI-optimistic countries. These regimes’ widespread use of surveillance tools seems to have accelerated the commercial adoption of emerging technologies, possibly increasing public trust in the companies deploying them.Moreover, authoritarian governments benefit from the ability to coordinate and direct resources toward innovation, especially through state-owned enterprises and sovereign wealth funds. Both the UAE and China haveimplementedtop-down national strategies aimed at positioning themselves as global AI leaders. As I explained in arecent paper, the Chinese government is not just a policymaker but also a supplier, customer, and investor in this sector.The UAE has adopted a similar approach. In 2017, it became thefirst countryto appoint a minister of state for AI, whose primary mission is to facilitate public-private partnerships and provide firms with convenient access to valuable training data. Notably, the Falcon AI model wasdevelopedby the Technology Innovation Institute, a state-funded research centre. G42, which isbackedby the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund and chaired by the government’s national security adviser,collaborateswith various state agencies.Recognising the vital role of academic research in driving technological progress, the UAE also established the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, the world’s first university dedicatedexclusively to AI.Despite the many similarities between the AI strategies of the UAE and China, one crucial difference stands out: whereas China’s progress in advanced technologies could be impeded by Western restrictions on chip and equipment exports, the UAE enjoys unrestricted access to these essential resources. In 2023, G42 signed a$100 million dealwith the California-based startup Cerebras to build the world’s largest supercomputer for AI training. And earlier this year, the companyreportedlyengaged in talks with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about a potential investment in an ambitious semiconductor venture that could challenge Nvidia’s dominance in the industry.But the reasons for the UAE’s success are still widely misunderstood. Tellingly, Altman recentlysuggestedthat the country could ‘lead the discussion’ on AI policy, acting as a ‘regulatory sandbox’ for the rest of the world. In praising the UAE’s approach, Altman obscures a fundamental point: it cannot be replicated in a democratic environment.