Mubadala is ‘zooming in’ on AI, CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak tells Milken

After two days of onstage chats with some of the legion of friends he’s cultivated and mentored in the investment world, Michael Milken turned to Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group CEO of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala sovereign wealth fund and someone he’s coached for 20 years, for Friday’s conference finale.

Sitting opposite each other on white swivel chairs before the packed ballroom, the 78-year-old Wall Street guru quizzed 49-year-old Al Mubarak on how the $330 billion fund makes investment decisions.

“Right now, when it comes to the future of the world, the sectors that are going to be growing and prospering – AI, technology, financial services, life sciences, health services – these are the sectors that we’re going to be zooming in on,” Al Mubarak said. “We are… making sure we have the right framework in place to allow our businesses to grow and scale up, but allow also the world to come here and grow and scale up here.”

The day’s events opened with a brief greeting from U.S. Ambassador to the UAE Martina Strong, who invoked the $1.5 billion investment that Microsoft made this year in Abu Dhabi’s G42 artificial intelligence firm. “The United States and the UAE are working together for a very solid platform of shared objectives, mutual trust and long-standing friendships that we have built up over the past five decades.”

Among the prominent figures drawn to Abu Dhabi was John Kerry, the former U.S. Senator and White House Climate Envoy, who was chatting in the lobby with California-based investor Thomas Steyer, founder of Farillon Capital, which manages $20 billion in assets.

Speaking on the stage at a panel about revamping cities for the future, U.S. Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti, the former Mayor of Los Angeles, said urban policymakers need to figure out how to protect their people and provide them with better lives. “It’s the same in New Delhi as it is in Los Angeles,” he said. “Good mayors borrow, great mayors steal from other mayors. You would be surprised about what risks people will take.”

Dr. Jill Biden, First Lady of the United States, told a packed ballroom on Thursday that she’s proud of the progress made by the Biden administration in advancing medical care and education about women’s health after years of neglect. “I remember going to my husband and saying, ‘Joe, this can’t go on.’”

Among the showcase activities during the Milken Summit was interviewing and whittling down the list of competing startups for the annual $1 million Milken-Motsepe Fintech Prize, which aims to expand access to capital and financial services for small businesses in emerging and frontier markets. Nominees made pitches this week in hopes of competing in the final round taking place at the Milken Institute’s flagship Beverly Hills conference in May, where the prize will be presented.

In an interview with The Circuit, Margaret O’Connor, the chairperson of Mauritius-based Launch Africa and a judge for the Milken-Motsepe award, said the program is a major incentive for the continent’s young companies.

“I actually have goosebumps because we’re at a moment in time where we’re building systems to create systematic connectivity,” O’Connor said. ”The GCC needs African talent – AI talent and entrepreneurial talent and business talent. GCC also needs access to African markets [while] African entrepreneurs need access to GCC markets and capital.”