France, UAE sign AI deal

France and the United Arab Emi­rates on Tuesday signed a “strategic partnership” on artificial intelligence (AI) aimed at boosting cooperation between them, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told AFP. The agreement signed with Khaldoon Al Muba­rak, managing director of the Abu Dhabi government-controlled fund Mub­adala, opens “a new era of economic cooperation” in the burgeoning sector, Le Maire said. “France has chosen to be the leading country in Eur­ope on AI, and for that, we need partners,” he said during a visit to the Gulf state at the head of a delegation of entrepreneurs and start-ups. “Four new areas of cooperation will be opened and developed in the coming months,” including rese­arch and skill development, part of which will be done via the Abu Dhabi branch of the Sorbonne, Paris’s ma­in university, Le Maire said.