Technology AI, Science and New Things
The US-China cold war over tech just got a few degrees chillier. Microsoft has agreed to invest $1.5 billion for a minority stake in the Emirati AI company G42 as part of a deal that pulls the UAE company out of Beijing’s orbit. Ahead of the deal’s closing, G42 agreed to phase out Chinese hardware and divest all its investments in China. Microsoft said the partnership with G42 was backed by assurances to the US and UAE governments over the “secure, trusted and responsible” development and deployment of AI. G42’s name is inspired by Douglas Adams’ novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (in which 42 is the meaning of life, the universe and everything) but it is Earth’s politics that dictate what’s happening now: the decoupling of the US and China is forcing businesses everywhere else to pick a team, even if they’re based in regions with strong ties to both superpowers.