Abu Dhabi's MGX in Talks to Back OpenAI's Chip Venture, Expanding AI Horizons

MGX, a new technology investment firm from Abu Dhabi, is exploring a potential investment in OpenAI's chip venture, signaling a significant move in the global AI technology investment rush.

MGX Eyes Investment in OpenAI's Chip Venture Amid Global AI Tech Rush

Abu Dhabi's state-backed investment firm MGX is in the early stages of discussions about investing in OpenAI's chip venture. MGX, a technology investment firm founded by Abu Dhabi's Mubadala and artificial intelligence firm G42, was launched this week.

The report follows an earlier Financial Times report that Singapore's Temasek Holdings was in talks to invest in OpenAI.

The UAE's AI minister, Omar Sultan Al Olama, told the Financial Times that he also sees xAI owner Elon Musk doing something AI-related in the country. "I don’t think it's far out for him (Musk) to do something here,” Olama told the FT.

AI startups received one out of every three dollars invested in the United States last year, with OpenAI's ChatGPT stealing the show as startups raced to develop AI technology.

The launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in late 2022 drew attention to generative AI technologies, resulting in billions of dollars in investments in chips and servers needed to support the adoption of such applications.

OpenAI Forms News Innovation Partnerships with Le Monde and Prisa Media

OpenAI announced partnerships with French daily Le Monde and Spanish conglomerate Prisa Media on Wednesday, stating that its ChatGPT artificial intelligence tool will be used to develop new applications.

According to an online company statement, OpenAI will be able to train the models that power its artificial intelligence using content from Le Monde and Prisa Media publications such as El Pais, Cinco Dias, and El Huffpost.

"In partnership with Le Monde and Prisa Media, our goal is to enable ChatGPT users around the world to connect with the news in new ways that are interactive and insightful," OpenAI chief operating officer Brad Lightcap said in the post.

According to OpenAI, ChatGPT users will soon be able to receive summaries of news content from publishers, as well as links to original articles.

"This partnership with OpenAI allows us to expand our reach and uphold our commitment to providing accurate, verified, balanced news stories at scale," Le Monde chief executive Louis Dreyfus said in the post.

He referred to Le Monde as France's leading news outlet, with 600,000 subscribers and over 2 million daily users. "Our partnership with OpenAI is a strategic move to ensure the dissemination of reliable information to AI users, safeguarding our journalistic integrity and revenue streams in the process," Dreyfus said.

Prisa Media chief executive Carlos Nunez called the OpenAI alliance a "step toward the future of news" where technology and human expertise merge to serve readers. Last year, OpenAI announced partnerships with the Associated Press and Axel Springer.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament gave final approval to the world's most comprehensive artificial intelligence rules, including powerful systems such as OpenAI ChatGPT.

The AI Act focuses on higher-risk uses of technology by the private and public sectors, imposing tougher obligations on providers, stricter transparency rules for the most powerful models such as ChatGPT, and outright banning tools deemed too dangerous.

Brussels has been racing to pass the new rules since OpenAI's Microsoft-backed ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, sparking a global AI race.

ChatGPT's ability to digest complex text, produce poems quickly, and pass medical exams sparked excitement for generative AI.

The excitement over AI-generated audio and video deepfakes led to a swift realization of the threats, including the potential for disinformation campaigns to be accelerated.

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