Gems Education is planning to launch artificial intelligence-powered “twins” of its teachers for use in UAE classrooms.

Gems, the largest private school provider in the Emirates, has been working with Napster, which rebranded as an AI company last year, to design digital personas that look, sound, and respond like specific staff members, The National reports.

“This initiative is designed to extend the reach and impact of teachers, not replace them,” Baz Nijjar, Senior Vice President of Innovation, AI and Futurism at Gems Education, and Managing Director of its Intelligence 360 platform, told the newspaper.

The school group sees after-hours homework assistance as the primary use case for the twins and says teachers will not be automatically required to participate. Gems has more than 200,000 pupils across its network.

Some international dealmakers are keeping Dubai as their main Gulf base despite Saudi Arabia’s push to bring regional headquarters to Riyadh. 

Moelis, Rothschild, PJT Partners and other so-called boutique firms have opened offices in Riyadh but have yet to obtain regional headquarters licenses, the Financial Times reports.

Under the rule enacted in 2024, that could cost them work with Saudi government entities, including the sovereign Public Investment Fund, which has 93 portfolio companies.

The headquarters regulation was part of the kingdom’s effort to attract more multinational companies and strengthen Riyadh’s position against Dubai as the Gulf’s main business center. Smaller advisory firms say the license requirement to employ at least 15 senior managers is too costly.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment says the program has already exceeded its 2030 target of 500 companies, with more than 700 registered.

France is sending troops, radar and air defenses to protect Saudi Aramco’s facilities at the Red Sea port of Yanbu after another Houthi attack.

President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that the French forces would protect the site but would not take part in combat. Macron acted after Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan called for international help to contain the Houthis, saying the threat extends beyond the kingdom.

Yanbu has become a critical outlet for Saudi oil as the war disrupts shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted missiles aimed at Yanbu and the city of Taif on Thursday, while the Houthis claimed attacks on Aramco facilities at the port and a target in Riyadh.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey said they would arrange an urgent meeting of their military chiefs to show support for the kingdom after Houthi attacks. Prince Faisal discussed the gathering with the Pakistani and Turkish foreign ministers in New York on Thursday under the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, which treats an attack on one member as an attack on all three.

Also in New York, U.S. and Iranian negotiators are reportedly exploring a phased deal that would see Tehran reopen the Strait of Hormuz and Washington lift its blockade of Iranian ports.

The two countries, which have failed to reach similar agreements in recent months, were pushing for a breakthrough Thursday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, with Qatari officials mediating the negotiations, Bloomberg reports.

Saudi Arabia’s expatriate jobs boom is fading as the Iran war compounds Public Investment Fund cutbacks and a broader hiring slowdown, resulting in fewer opportunities and less generous pay packages.

“The war has exacerbated PIF cutbacks,” Mark Butler, a partner at Saudi recruitment company Sterling Bell, told Arabian Gulf Business Insight.

The shift has come after a hiring boom that recruiters described as “so intense” that they were often given just months to find thousands of workers for PIF-led projects, often with generous salaries and incentives.

Hiring could accelerate again ahead of Expo 2030 Riyadh and the 2034 World Cup, but recruiters expect the market to remain subdued in the near term.

The UAE central bank has barred Bank Melli Iran’s local branches from conducting financial transactions to and from Iran.

The regulatory body said its action followed examinations that found breaches of UAE rules and supervisory requirements.

The violations were related to anti-money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing.

The central bank said the measures are aimed at safeguarding the integrity of the UAE financial system and ensuring compliance with international standards.

The move marks the latest crackdown on Iranian-linked businesses and financial activity after months of Iran’s missile and drone strikes against the UAE.
 

Microsoft plans to invest more than $10 billion in cloud and AI infrastructure while expanding its operations across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait by 2030.

The U.S. software giant is preparing an “aggressive spending schedule” as it expands working relationships with Abu Dhabi’s G42 tech conglomerate and works on selected projects with Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai, Microsoft President Brad Smith told Reuters.

Smith, who holds a seat on G42’s board, said Microsoft will spend more than $400 million over the next three years on undersea cables and land connections across the Middle East.

Asked how the Iran war has affected its projections, Smith said: “We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we’re in fact adding to them.” 

Amid the conflict, Smith said Microsoft is working to help Gulf countries in areas such as readiness and critical data protection as part of a “digital resilience” initiative.

Europe’s largest private investment firm is opening its first Middle East office in Abu Dhabi, in the latest sign that the Iran war has done little to dent the UAE’s appeal as a financial hub. 

Swedish firm EQT, which manages $389 billion in client assets, will join a growing lineup of global asset managers in the Abu Dhabi Global Market free zone, The National reports. Smiyet Belrhiti will lead the Abu Dhabi office.

“The launch of EQT’s Middle East platform reflects our conviction in the scale and momentum of opportunity across the GCC,” EQT CEO Per Franzén said. 

Meanwhile, Qatar’s Lesha Bank signed an agreement with BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners to invest more than $1 billion alongside the infrastructure investor.

BlackRock plans to deploy up to $100 billion in the Middle East, targeting infrastructure and opportunities created by the opening of state-owned assets to private investment, Zawya reports.

Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil exporter, plans to create a gas division, giving the business its own president and preparing for major investments in LNG.

The overhaul could pave the way for Aramco to sell a minority stake in the gas business or list parts of it to raise money for Saudi projects and overseas energy investments, Reuters reports.

Aramco is expanding the Jafurah shale gas field to supply more gas at home, freeing up oil now burned for power generation for export.

The company raised $11 billion last year through a lease deal involving Jafurah’s gas processing facilities, offering another model for funding its expansion.