Dubai – Among the best strategies for artificial intelligence to truly change people’s lives for the better, two emerged in a debate promoted by this Tuesday (14), in Dubai, with Sam Altman and Peng Xiao, two exponents on the topic: the political leadership of countries to put AI at the top of their agenda and abundant and cheap access to this technology.
Xiao, who is CEO of G42 Group, a company based in Abu Dhabi (capital of the United Arab Emirates), cited the example of the country, which decided to be a native AI nation. “The push to become this must come from the top down. AI cannot — for a government that wants to be AI native — be in the top 20 agenda items. It needs to be in the top 3, perhaps even No. 1 on the government’s agenda for the country.”
Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI (creator of ChatGPT), who attended the event virtually from San Francisco, agreed that every country will need to have an AI strategy and that this should be a top priority for national leadership.
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He also praised the decision taken by the UAE in this process and said he hoped it would serve as an example for the rest of the world. “I hope this is something we will see very soon: which countries will bring this to all their citizens, all their government processes, their entire economy”, commented the OpenAI executive, who already has an AI training initiative for countries.
A clear example of the importance of political leadership and the necessary access to knowledge focused on innovation was cited by Xiao. He said that when he presented a degree program in AI to the president of the country, he heard back that the program was good, but good enough, because it was aimed at people between 18 and 30 years old. A program from 7 to 70 years old was then requested and implemented, so that the entire local society could be reached.
The G42 executive cited two examples similar to those used by ChatGPT in everyday situations. He said that the new home of the company’s chairman, in Abu Dhabi, is a beautiful complex of Japanese architecture on the seafront, which was ready in less than a year. The reason was that the company’s president was responsible for the entire design, advised by ChatGPT, using around 500 prompts.
The other case mentioned was more homely. His wife noticed over the weekend that the house’s digital dishwasher had stopped working, just before receiving guests. After seeking help from a handyman and trying, without solution, to contact technical assistance or use the device’s manual, she called on the AI assistant. He took a photo of the device and used GPT to ask what was wrong. Step by step, he managed to solve the problem.
* The journalist traveled at the invitation of the organizers of GITEX Global 2025
