Tech Desk 
May 22, 2025
The race to lead in artificial intelligence (AI) across the Gulf region just got more intense, with the United Arab Emirates launching an advanced Arabic AI model named Falcon Arabic.
This is in the context of many Gulf countries, especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia, pouring money into these future technologies and trying to be the centre of global AI.
AI is a part of our everyday lives and is the core of many smart tools we use, such as digital assistants and language translation apps.
As part of this regional tech race, there will be a lot of focus on producing AI tools that can understand their users' native languages.
UAE's Falcon Arabic AI model
Falcon Arabic was developed by Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), which used a high-quality Arabic dataset reflecting the linguistic diversity of the Arab world to build the model.
Although the model is smaller, Falcon Arabic performs similar to the larger models; this makes it more efficient and easier to use as well.
While in the UAE recently, US President Donald Trump announced a partnership in which the UAE will have access to advanced American AI chips, which was a huge win for the UAE on their way to becoming a global leader in AI.
