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Eric Xing’s Abu Dhabi Initiative and the Future of AI Advancement

July 23, 2025

Eric Xing’s Abu Dhabi Initiative and the Future of AI Advancement

Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI is staking a claim as a hybrid Bell Labs–style powerhouse in Abu Dhabi.

The UAE’s MBZUAI, led by Eric Xing, is growing fast and pushing open-source AI research to boost the country’s soft power and position itself as a U.S.-aligned AI hub. Xing called it “Bell Labs plus a university,” aiming to rival MIT and Carnegie Mellon.

He dismissed the U.S.-China AI rivalry narrative, saying,

“There is no AI war.
The U.S. is way ahead in ideas, in people, and in the innovation environment.”

Xing highlighted open source as a strategic weapon.

“Open source applies pressure on closed systems.
Without it, fewer people would be able to build with—or even understand—these technologies.”

He also shot down hype around “world models” in AI.

“Right now people are building pretty video generators and calling them world models.
That’s not reasoning. That’s not simulation.”

The White House is expected to drop a major AI export plan Wednesday. According to Reuters, it will promote open-source AI, crack down on strict state AI regulations, and boost U.S. global AI dominance under President Trump’s directive.

OpenAI and Google DeepMind sparked drama with their International Math Olympiad claims. OpenAI announced scores first without official verification, drawing criticism from top mathematicians like Terence Tao. Google waited for the IMO’s independent review and got formal recognition for its Gemini DeepThinker AI’s gold medal performance.

SoftBank and OpenAI’s $500 billion Stargate project is faltering, per the Wall Street Journal. The moonshot AI data center initiative announced six months ago has yet to break ground. Internal disputes over site locations and scaling back from promised billions have stalled progress. Oracle is now supplying OpenAI with 2 million AI chips tied to this effort, but SoftBank isn’t financing new capacity or data centers.

Fortune reports a group of 40 AI experts, including OpenAI and DeepMind contributors, warning about rising opacity in advanced AI reasoning. They stress the importance of “chain-of-thought” transparency to track AI decision-making and safety risks.

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