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G42, what it does and who is behind the Emirati company that worries the US about its business with China

G42, what it does and who is behind the Emirati company that worries the US about its business with China

The CIA observes it with suspicion due to its ties with China but has also entered into agreements with AstraZeneca and US companies such as Microsoft and OpenAI. This is why G42, a company based in Abu Dhabi, ended up under the scrutiny of US intelligence

For some Silicon Valley entrepreneurs he is a visionary, for American intelligence a threat to national security. Peng Xiao is the CEO of the Abu Dhabi-based G42 firm with close ties to Beijing and beyond. His interests and businesses range from technology to communications, from pharmaceuticals to artificial intelligence. And above all the latter, which has become a new weapon in the hands of countries, particularly worries Washington, given that it has recently started partnerships with Microsoft and OpenAI.

WHO IS THE MAN BEHIND G42

The CIA – according to what was written by the New York Times , which investigated G42 and brought to light the Biden administration's concerns regarding the company's ties with China – dedicated a confidential profile to it. Peng Xiao graduated from George Washington University but renounced his American citizenship for UAE citizenship.

He was Chief Technology Officer and Senior Executive VP at MicroStrategy and Head-IT Operations at Bond & Pecaro. He is currently the CEO of G42 and also serves on the board of directors of Al Yah Satellite Communications and Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence.

The conclusions of the CIA document on Xiao, says the NYT , "are not clear".

WHAT'S INSIDE G42

The name of G42 is taken from the cult science fiction book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The same one that inspired Elon Musk for his Grok artificial intelligence.

If G stands for "group", the number 42, as Xiao also explained, is the company's mission, or "the answer to the meaning of life", as we read in the book.

To achieve this ambitious mission, G42 includes a $10 billion technology investment fund, an Arabic-language AI model, a tech talent platform, a healthcare company, a genome sequencing program and more Still.

WHO YOU DO BUSINESS WITH G42

From 2018 to today, G42 has grown a lot and recently signed agreements with the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and invested in the Chinese giant ByteDance – which owns TikTok -, purchasing 100 million of dollars of shares.

But its business is also overseas, especially in the technology sector. With Cerebras Systems, a Silicon Valley AI company, it announced a $100 million deal to build the "largest supercomputer in the world" and its CEO, Andrew Feldman, called Xiao "a visionary". Nvidia will also work on the supercomputer because G42's intention is to abandon its "traditional technology supplier, which included Chinese hardware".

Other agreements were signed with Microsoft and Dell Technologies and last October with OpenAI.

THE ALARM OF US INTELLIGENCE

As the NYT observes, from the mass of press releases published by G42 itself, everything happened in broad daylight. Yet US intelligence agencies have warned of his activities with large Chinese companies that the US considers a security threat. Among these, the telecommunications giant subjected to sanctions Huawei.

“US officials fear that G42 could be a conduit through which advanced American technology is transferred to Chinese companies or the government. Intelligence reports have also warned that G42's dealings with Chinese companies could be a channel to bring the genetic data of millions of Americans and other people into the hands of the Chinese government."

THE NEW WEAPONS

The concern is due to the fact that advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence have both civilian and military uses and if previously the control of US officials to contain China's influence in the Middle East was limited to controlling how it moved with the construction of bases military and arms sales, today it must also consider other risks such as AI but also big data, quantum computing, cloud computing, surveillance infrastructures and genomic research.

In the case of G42, intelligence agencies have flagged some specific areas of concern, such as the company's “stack,” or underlying technology infrastructure, “which was built with the help of Chinese companies, including Huawei ”. Additionally, they looked at a subsidiary of G42 called Presight AI, “which sells surveillance technology to police forces around the world, including software nearly identical to products popular among Chinese police.”

THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES BETWEEN CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES

The issue of ties between the G42 and China was raised last June by the US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, during Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed's visit to the White House. The Biden administration, as reported by the NYT , "raised concerns about the company's leadership and pushed for G42 to sever ties with Chinese companies and agencies."

There was also talk of the possibility of sanctions because for Washington, on sensitive emerging technologies, the Emirates must choose between the United States and China. For Abu Dhabi, AI is an important alternative to oil revenues but its collaboration with other actors should not be underestimated in other areas either. The country, in fact, recalls the NYT , is cultivating closer ties with both China and Russia also to reduce its dependence on the United States as an arms supplier.


This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/g42-azienda-emiratina-affari-cina/ on Mon, 04 Dec 2023 13:22:40 +0000.