The Emirates are betting on AI like others bet on black gold

While the Emirates build AI empires in the desert, Africa is still watching its engineers flee for lack of strategic vision.

The 20th century belonged to oil. The 21st, without question, is that of data, machines, and algorithms. And in this changing world, some have decided not to wait for Western injunctions to assert themselves. Abu Dhabi no longer dreams of skyscrapers; it is shaping digital brains . Dubai is no longer just building giant malls; it is programming the intelligence of tomorrow. At a time when Africa is still pondering industrialization, the Emirates are coding their future.

Abu Dhabi, future brain of the world

The UAE alone will inject $1.4 trillion into the American economy over ten years. A good portion will go toward AI infrastructure and semiconductors. Not for show, but to establish itself as the global hub of machine intelligence.

At the helm: Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed , nicknamed by some Western diplomats "the brains of the Gulf." He heads ADIA ($790 billion in assets) while also piloting the country's AI strategy. A concentration of power, cash, and foresight that no African minister of the economy could dream of, given how fragmented, inflexible, or overly dependent our models remain.

Multiply Group, another Emirati arm, aims to manage $100 billion in tech, while ADQ is pouring $25 billion into American data centers. And it's not over: Palantir, Aleria (their sovereign AI), a European AI campus in France... The Emirates are setting up shop everywhere, all the time, with cold efficiency.

Riyadh, Doha, and the others: freewheeling

Faced with the Emirati rocket, Saudi Arabia is trying to keep up... by running. Despite thunderous announcements ($40 billion then $150 billion for tech, $600 billion in the United States), Riyadh seems to be chasing a train that's already moving. The problem? A scattered vision, fragmented investments, and no clear focus on AI.

Qatar, on the other hand, prefers to buy football and invest in niche markets. So much the better for Mbappé, but less so for Gulf engineers. The result: despite a €10 billion check for French tech, Doha is still playing in the second division.

As for the other Gulf monarchies: Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, they are wallflowers. No AI strategy, no dedicated funds, nothing. They live off their oil revenues, like some African states on their debts and foreign aid.

And Africa in all this? Invisible on the AI map

Let's not kid ourselves: while the Emirates are shaping their destiny, Africa is looking elsewhere. Yes, there are tech hubs in Lagos, Nairobi, Cape Town, and Kigali. Yes, talent is emerging. But where are the mega-investments? Where are the sovereign strategies? Where is the equivalent of a Sheikh Tahnoon, a visionary, strategist, and equipped with the tools to execute?

We send our engineers to Google, our data scientists to Montreal, our developers to Berlin. The continent trains but doesn't retain. It talks about sovereignty but doesn't plan anything.

While the Emirates are investing in AI to become masters, Africa is begging for subsidies to buy Chinese equipment. If this doesn't change soon, the technological gap between Abu Dhabi and Dakar will be as wide as the one between Silicon Valley and Ouagadougou.