New AI Deal With UAE Has ‘Strong’ Anti-Diversion Measures, White House Says
The White House defended its new AI partnership framework with the United Arab Emirates, saying in a statement late May 16 that the agreement “will help ensure the global AI ecosystem will be built with American chips and use American models, all while guaranteeing significant UAE investments into the United States.”
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The deal also “contains historic commitments by the UAE to further align their national security regulations with the United States, including strong protections to prevent the diversion of U.S.-origin technology," the statement says.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and David Sacks, the president's AI policy adviser, made similar comments about the agreement, which calls for the launch of an AI data center in Abu Dhabi and a “more efficient” process for UAE investment in the U.S. (see 2505150063).
“Part of going to the Middle East was to ensure … our Gulf partners know that the United States of America is there for them again and that they should be investing in the United States, not in China,” Leavitt told reporters May 19. The UAE AI deal has "security guarantees to ensure that China is not getting the advantage but the United States is getting the advantage when it comes to AI and that the UAE and the U.S. are working hand in hand together to invest in this space.”
Sacks said on X May 17 that under the UAE agreement, "all advanced semiconductors will remain under robust and comprehensive U.S. security controls, protecting American technology from any illegal diversion or illegal access.” Aligning friends and allies with the U.S. “AI ecosystem” will “pull them into our orbit,” while excluding them would “drive them into China’s arms,” he wrote.
Democratic lawmakers have criticized the UAE deal, as well as an AI agreement with Saudi Arabia, saying both arrangements lack adequate measures to prevent U.S. adversaries from accessing advanced American chips (see 2505160049). The lawmakers also said the agreements would send large numbers of chips to the UAE and Saudi Arabia at the expense of American AI developers.