From Oil to AI: The UAE’s Journey to Becoming a Leader in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
by
Mike Singh
In 1970, the globally respected American author and futurist – Alvin Toffler published his seminal piece titled ‘Future Shock’ which provided a glimpse into the very future that we live in today.
Interestingly, the publication of ‘Future Shock’ globally culminated around the same time that the UAE came into being in 1971.
In the mid 1990s, whilst at AT&T – I came upon this book in a desk drawer amongst an old set of desks being donated to a local charity. I wondered aloud in my mind – just how long this book must have been there as it was from the original print date.
I was mesmerized by its deep thought-provoking contents and as such quickly seized upon the fact that those societies of the future that will thrive and survive are those that can harness data.
My reading of this book took place just as the internet was starting to reach the masses via dial up and later DSL by 2000.
High speed internet connectivity did not make its presence felt until a decade later in the US via HFC and by 2020 – mass adoption of higher bandwidth speeds thanks to the likes of AT&T, Comcast and that of Verizon’s unique FIOS offering.
In Guyana, thanks to One Communcations (then GT&T) – I was able to enjoy the unimaginable benefits of FTTH with speeds of up to 500 Mbps in 2017. Finally, AT&T was able to deliver FTTH services to me in Miami in 2020 of at least 1 Gbps.
Today, we live in postindustrial, knowledge-based societies where ubiquitous networks abound around us and connectivity is delivered to the most remote corners of the earth thanks to the likes of Starlink, One Web and soon that of Kuipers.
The age of the 4th Industrial Revolution is already here and lines between man and machines are getting dimmed with machine learning, AI, IoT, Blockchain and Neural Link which were all hinted at by Alvin Toffler almost 45 years ago.
The race to AI domination and leadership opens so many ethical challenges and opportunities as we move towards a more energy efficient era versus the present that is beset by rising ocean levels, exacerbated by greenhouse gases and climate changes.
The future obsessed UAE is on the cusp of leadership as it transitions away from being just a fossil fuel-based economy to becoming the undisputed leader in climate mitigation given its adoption of an energy mix of natural gas, nuclear and solar energy.
It is the envied leader as well in Artificial Intelligence in the global south as it has taken on the future boldly via the unparalleled vision and leadership that is in place at G42 and Mubadala given recent collaboration and investments with Microsoft, Open AI and many others.
The founding father of the UAE – the late Baba Zayed was not only obsessed with the future but committed to it
– so from day one stressed that oil will not last forever and therefore education was key to securing a prosperous future for the UAE but also in helping the rest of humanity.
The UAE’s Muesum of the Future is the only of its kind, the UAE has the world’s first ever Minister for Artificial Intelligence and under the visionary leadership and stewardship of Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai is poised to scale greater heights in redefining the future of a knowledge based global economy.
The UAE is also taking the lead in expanding academic research, skilling and industrial ecosystem in the areas of critical and emerging technology including Semicondctors, Artificial Intelligence (AI) amd machine learning
(ML), High Performance Computing, Quantum Science and Technology, Bioengineering, Clean Energy and Advanced Materials.
In short, the tomorrow begins today – the future is one of infinite possibilities, the future is bright – the future is clearly being led and defined by the UAE.
Mike Singh is Chairman of Telkom Caribe and Latin American & Caribbean Futurist.
