OpenAI's Altman signs UAE energy, government deals amid Gulf funding push
The deals deepen the company’s ties to the UAE as the ChatGPT creator pursues a massive new funding round with help from Middle East investors.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman signed a series of agreements spanning energy, government and investment in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
The deals deepen the company’s ties with the United Arab Emirates as the ChatGPT creator pursues a massive new funding round with help from Middle East investors, while also offering a boost to the Gulf state’s AI ambitions amid pressure from the US-Israel-Iran war.
Details: Altman met Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, who witnessed the agreements’ signing, according to the UAE media office.
The headline pact, announced during the ADIPEC energy conference, centers on a multiyear partnership between OpenAI, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and AI firm G42 to deploy advanced AI across the state-owned energy giant’s operations. ADNOC described itself as the first energy company to deploy OpenAI Frontier, a platform that coordinates AI agents across business operations.
