AI played 'big role' in approach to pandemic, says UAE artificial intelligence minister
Omar Al Olama, the UAE’s AI Minister, explains how COVID-19 has been an accelerator for AI applications; why the US and China would benefit from a ‘constant dialogue’ on AI; and why ‘the new roads that we need to be building right now are roads in the digital realm.’
AI leads to ‘great return on investment’ in dealing with pandemic
The UAE approached the COVID-19 pandemic “as a scientist,” said Omar Al Olama, the UAE’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications.
Al Olama was appointed by the UAE as the first artificial intelligence (AI) minister in the world in 2017, when he was just 27 years old. That year, his ministry launched a strategy “to become one of the world leaders in AI by 2031.”
The COVID-19 pandemic, it turns out, may have accelerated the UAE’s applications of AI to governance and public health, and to establishing the Emirates as a world leader in AI, as Al Olama, now 31, explained in an exclusive Zoom interview with Al-Monitor on Nov. 18.
