UAE‘s AI company, Group42, expands its wings. Partners with China, UFC
Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan-controlled Artificial intelligence company, Group42, announced on January 8 that it had identified the genomic source of Covid-19. The company is co-financing a vaccine for Covid-19 with China’s Sinopharm. Interestingly, Group42 is run by Tahnoon, but the official chairman is Osman bin Hussein Al Ahdali, who has played a major role in the Emirati medical diplomacy.
Last year, Cogna Technology Solutions, a company with links to Group42 and Al Ahdali on its board, ordered Chinese tests for the Trump administration.
According to a tweet by Reuters, “Year 2021 led to a mashup between the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and a top UAE intelligence firm Group42. UFC is playing an active role in promoting a company that is reportedly involved in spyware and mass surveillance technology”.
The Group42’s affiliation marks the latest in a series of concerning ties between the UFC and the UAE — a relationship rooted in the Middle Eastern nation’s underlying goal to manipulate sports for political and socio-economic gains.
The UFC’s long-term presence in Abu Dhabi serves as an opportunity to use the promotion’s substantial Western-based platform to rehabilitate UAE’s image. This strategy is not unique to the UFC, as the UAE has long manipulated sports for political gain.
Last January it was revealed that Group42 was behind the ToTok application, a UAE-based messaging application that is reportedly being used to spy on Emirati citizens and anyone else who downloads the app.
Group42 is also launching various technical intelligence, or ELINT, projects with Indian, Chinese, French and Italian specialists. It is receiving extensive support for these projects from China.
Few years back, Chinese Tech Giant, Alibaba, Cloud Partners with UAE’s Group 42 to host first MEA Internet Summit. The MEA Internet Summit builds on Alibaba’s existing partnerships with over 30 local vendors across a wide variety of tech segments. In addition, the company invests in the development of UAE youth through its collaboration with Khalifa University that identifies opportunities in areas such as data analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, and cloud computing.
Group42 is promoting its credibility by developing Covid vaccines and using UFC‘s platform as a sportswashing tool for an authoritarian regime.
