A United Arab Emirates (UAE) academic lab today launched an artificial intelligence world model and agent, two large language models (LLMs) and a new research center in Silicon Valley as it ramps up its investment in the cutting-edge field. The UAE's Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) revealed an AI world model called PAN, which can be used to build physically realistic simulations for testing and honing the performance of AI agents. Eric Xing, President and Professor of MBZUAI and a leading AI researcher, revealed the models and lab at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California today. The UAE has made big investments in AI in recent years under the guidance of Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan, the nation's tech-savvy national security advisor and younger brother of president Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Xing says the UAE's new center in Sunnyvale, California, will help the nation tap into the world's most concentrated source of AI knowledge and talent.

This week: The UK and the US agreed to the framework for a trade deal. Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers discuss the details of the agreement and what it means that it includes keeping the 10% baseline tariffs staying in place. Then, Bill Gates has announced that he's winding down the Gates Foundation and doubling the money he's giving away. The hosts discuss how this is a reaction to Elon Musk's slashing of USAID and the state of billionaire philanthropy. And finally, OpenAI has reversed its plan to become a for profit enterprise after public backlash.

Tensions continue to mount as India and Pakistan traded accusations and attacks across their frontier in Kashmir overnight. New Delhi and Islamabad accused one another on Friday of launching drone attacks as well as "numerous ceasefire violations" over the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed territory. The ongoing hostilities have provoked further calls for restraint as the risk of an escalation between the two nuclear powers grows. Pakistan launched "multiple attacks" using drones and other munitions along India's western border on Thursday night and early Friday, the Indian army said, claiming it had repelled the attacks and responded forcefully, although it did not provide details. Islamabad has denied any cross-border attacks and instead accused Indian forces of sending drones into Pakistani territory, killing at least two civilians.

Since Donald Trump launched his chaotic trade war earlier this year, it has become a truism to say he has plunged the world economy into crisis. At last month's spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, where policymakers and finance ministers from all over congregated, the attenders were "shellshocked", the economist Eswar Prasad, a former senior IMF official who now teaches at Cornell, told me. "The sense is that the world has changed fundamentally in ways that cannot easily be put back together. Every country has to figure out its own place in this new world order and how to protect its own interests." Trump's assault on the old global order is real. But in taking its measure, it's necessary to look beyond the daily headlines and acknowledge that being in a state of crisis is nothing new to capitalism. It's also important to note that, as Karl Marx wrote in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon: "Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please."

A large-scale Russian drone attack in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro has killed three people, including a young girl, according to the regional governor, hours before officials from the United States, Europe and Ukraine gather in Paris to discuss the conflict. Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysak said the attacks that also injured tens of people came late on Wednesday, triggering multiple fires and damaging a dozen apartment buildings. A student residence, an educational institution and a food processing plant were also damaged, Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov added. Photos posted online showed raging fires, burned-out vehicles and buildings with shattered windows and scorched facades, as emergency crews worked through the night. Sixteen of the injured are in hospital, one of them in critical condition, according to Lysak.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – China's President Xi Jinping has arrived in Malaysia as part of a Southeast Asian tour which is seen as delivering a personal message that Beijing is a more reliable trading partner than the United States amid a bruising trade war with Washington. Xi arrived in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, on Tuesday evening in what is his first visit to Malaysia since 2013. He flew in from Vietnam where he had signed dozens of trade cooperation agreements in Hanoi on everything from artificial intelligence to rail development. On touching down, Xi said that deepening "high-level strategic cooperation" was good for the common interests of both China and Malaysia, and good for peace, stability and prosperity in the region and the world", according to the official Malaysian news agency Bernama. Xi's three-country tour and his "message" that Beijing is Southeast Asia's better friend than the truculent administration of US President Donald Trump comes as many countries in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc are unhappy with their treatment after the US imposed huge tariffs on countries around the world. "This is a very significant visit.

According to an SEC filing from NVIDIA, the US government now requires companies to obtain a license to export H20 integrated circuits and any other products that achieve the same performance benchmarks. The filing states that "the license requirement addresses the risk that the covered products may be used in, or diverted to, a supercomputer in China." Mainland China is not the only place targeted by this license; NVIDIA will also require permission to sell the H20 to the territories of Hong Kong and Macau as well as to nations with the D:5 designation as US Arms Embargo Countries. The H20 chips are currently the most advanced chips that can be sold to select international markets under present laws and they are powerful enough to be used for artificial intelligence applications. NVIDIA has wanted the ability to retain Chinese customers for these products and last week, it seemed like the company may have gotten a reprieve on new restrictions.

Chips themselves, the key computing hardware inside AI datacenters, are exempt from Trump's tariffs--but only if they are imported to the U.S. as standalone products. However, most chips are not imported into the U.S. as raw materials; instead, they arrive already-packaged inside products like servers, which are subject to tariffs. Worried AI investors received good news on Monday in a note circulated by analyst Stacy Rasgon, who pointed out that most Nvidia servers are likely to escape the bite of Trump's tariffs. That's because most appear to be assembled in Mexico, and therefore benefit from a tariff exemption under a free trade agreement. That's a "silver lining" to the news, says Rasgon, a semiconductor industry analyst at Bernstein Research.

China is using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to ramp up disinformation against Taiwan to "divide" Taiwan's public, the island's National Security Bureau said. Taiwan has accused China of stepping up military drills, trade sanctions and influence campaigns against the island in recent years to force the island to accept Chinese sovereignty claims. Taiwan strongly rejects China's sovereignty claims. China staged two days of war games and live-fire drills near the democratically governed island this month, triggering concern by the United States and many of its allies.

China and India are likely to attempt to interfere in upcoming elections, Canada's intelligence agency has warned, adding that Russia and Pakistan also pose a potential threat. The deputy director of operations for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) said on Tuesday that the agency is braced for efforts to meddle in the April 28 vote. Ottawa's relations with China and India in particular have been strained. Vanessa Lloyd told a media conference that such countries are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to interfere in elections around the globe. China is "highly likely to use AI-enabled tools to attempt to interfere with Canada's democratic process in this current election," she said. India has the "intent and capability" to do likewise, she continued, adding that Russia and Pakistan could also potentially seek to interfere.