WASHINGTON – Last month, at two newly minted military facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia, US and Royal Saudi air defense units teamed up for live-fire drills to shoot down a series of training drones mimicking the speed and altitude of a variety of Iranian attack UAVs. In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Army Gen. Michael "Erik" Kurilla, the top commander of US forces in the Middle East, described the first Red Sands counter-drone experimentation exercise as "very successful." But not everything went smoothly -- and that was the point. One Saudi-owned defense system proved unable to engage at the necessary range, forcing soldiers to improvise. Other weapons hit the targets successfully, including LIDS (Low, Slow, Unmanned Aircraft Integrated Defeat System) and Coyote counter-drone systems brought in by the US Army.

Four consortia of international and Israeli companies have been chosen to operate a two-year pilot program to test autonomous public transportation in Israel. The Nov. 7 announcement by the Transportation Ministry and the Israel Innovation Authority follows a call for proposals issued in September 2021. In additional to Israel, the consortia includes companies from France, the U.S., Turkey and Noway. The first phase of the NIS61 million ($17.75 million) pilot will consist of experiments at test and operational sites, while the second will be conducted under a temporary license along public transportation lanes. The pilot follows Knesset legislation approved in March 2022 to develop a knowledge base regarding the safety of independent vehicles.

The company Mine, co-founded by Gal Ringel, Gal Golan and Kobi Nissan, says it uses artificial intelligence to show users where their information …

The Dubai International Financial Center launched a license for artificial intelligence (AI) and coding today. The designated economic zone's license was launched in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates Artificial Intelligence Office to attract AI companies to the UAE. Licensed firms will receive access to the Dubai International Financial Center's Innovation Hub, where several fintech companies operate, the center said in a press release. The Dubai International Financial Center is a financial hub with an English common law-based legal framework that is separate from the rest of the Emirates. The center is home to more than 2,500 companies.

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 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. Al Olama describes a policy response to the pandemic by the UAE that has been data- and analytics-driven and characterized by openness to different ideas, nimbleness in response to changing events, and willingness to accept calculated risks. "We actually were very open to many different solutions, and many different theories out there," he said. "And we worked with everyone, from the East and the West, to try to find the right solutions that can be deployed in the UAE to make us go back to living a relatively normal life. Not the normal life that we're used to. People still need to wear masks. There's still a lot of focus on the general community's safety, but AI played a big role in getting us to this point."

Israel joined the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence today, Nov. 11, becoming the 20th member of the organization created two years ago under French and Canadian leadership. Four other countries were also accepted into the organization and four countries saw their candidacy rejected, at least for the moment, at the GPAI's annual event. The GPAI headquarters are located within the OECD in Paris, with another hub in Canada. He explained to Al-Monitor that the organization is made up of countries with advanced artificial intelligence technologies that believe in the values of equality and democracy promoted by the OECD. "Artificial intelligence has been a much-debated topic worldwide, also generating fears. These technologies bring about very positive impacts and possibilities, but are also quite complex and could be sensitive to society. And so the states wanted to have a multi-stakeholder initiative that could advise them and make recommendations," he said.