Baidu’s Li tells Dubai summit AI costs pushing China to innovate

Inside Dubai’s luxurious Madinat Jumeirah resort at the World Governments Summit, some 6,000 participants were scrambling between hotel ballrooms on Tuesday to see a parade of government and corporate leaders talk about the future of the earth.

Another 1.5 million tuned in on the web feed. Topping the agenda in one session after another was how to address the promise and threats presented by artificial intelligence.

Robin Li, CEO of China’s Baidu talked about how the high costs of AI development have forced the world’s second-largest economy to find new computing solutions, including DeepSeek, which has come up with vastly cheaper AI models than those developed by OpenAI, Microsoft and Google.

“You just don’t know when and where innovations come from,” Li said in an onstage conversation with Omar Al Olama, UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications.

Kristalina Georgieva, the Bulgarian economist who serves as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, said the world is at an important juncture that will determine whether AI turns into a great story or a nightmare. “There are many, many unknowns,” she sighed.

Adding a touch of glamor on Monday night was a star-studded event at the Museum of the Future, where many of the WGS delegates attended TIME magazine’s Impact Awards Gala, which featured appearances by Grimes, the artist, singer and ex-life partner of Elon Musk, as well as video artist Refik Anadol and musician Arqam Al Abri.

Topping the bill on Wednesday will be Oracle’s Larry Ellison, former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who will deliver a keynote address in the morning. Google’s Sundar Pichai and Goldman Sachs’ Jared Cohen will speak in separate sessions on the future of tech.

DeepSeek AI challenge to Nvidia reverberates in Abu Dhabi, Dubai

The emergence of DeepSeek, the Chinese startup whose artificial intelligence capabilities rival those of Nvidia and triggered a 17% plummet in the U.S. chipmaker’s shares, is being felt in the Gulf.

G42, International Holding Co. and other Abu Dhabi companies that have billions of dollars in active deals with Nvidia stand to lose if DeepSeek can follow through with its plans to provide advanced AI functions at a fraction of the cost. Nvidia’s market value plunged $589 billion on Monday.

Damac Properties Chairman Hussain Sajwani, for example, pledged $20 billion to U.S. President Donald Trump two weeks ago to build AI data centers, which may not ever be built if DeepSeek’’s technology proves itself.

“The introduction of DeepSeek’s cost-effective solutions has disrupted… anticipations of expansive investments in AI, leading to a sharp market correction,” Roberto d’Ambrosio, CEO of Axiory Global, told The Circuit’s Omnia Al Desoukie in Dubai.

“From a risk management perspective, this development underscores the perils of over-reliance on anticipated technological trajectories,” d’Ambrosio said, noting the possible downside for G42 and other companies backed by IHC – which is led by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the UAE National Security Advisor and Chairman of sovereign wealth funds ADQ and ADIA.

“The rapid advancement of AI capabilities, coupled with the emergence of more affordable alternatives, necessitates a reassessment of investment strategies,” he said.