Several industries in the Middle East — and worldwide — are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to boost their operations. As this technology takes center stage in this new era, tech giant Microsoft continues to remain relevant with its innovative programs and partnerships.
In this interview, Samer Abu-Ltaif, corporate vice president and president of Microsoft Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, shares multiple endeavors that are anchored in the revolutionary power of AI. This conversation further explores how the company helps organizations embrace AI, promote responsible practices, and prepare the workforce for the inevitable AI-driven future.
Many companies across a variety of industries have embraced AI and its potential. Could you provide an overview of the AI landscape in the region and elaborate on the contributions Microsoft is making to assist these industries in unlocking the full potential of AI?
Across the world, AI is presenting the next major shift in computing; an inflection point similar in magnitude to that of the personal computer, the Internet, mobile devices, and the cloud. It’s the next phase of digital transformation; a time when businesses are using AI to do more than just automate tasks, but also to revolutionize how they analyze data, extract invaluable insights, and unleash the full potential of their operations.
At Microsoft, we believe that AI is the ultimate amplifier, and we are focused on responsibly creating AI that enables people to achieve greater productivity, growth, and satisfaction in their work. When people are freed from repetitive or tedious tasks, they can tap into their human ingenuity to focus on more strategic or creative work. Business leaders across industries are recognizing this potential and are increasingly looking at ways to incorporate AI into every business process and function to help them solve pressing challenges in innovatie ways.
In addition to transforming industries, we have seen governments recognize and invest in the promise of AI. For example, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Qatar have all launched dedicated AI strategies to support their visionary national agendas and develop their digital economies. Poland, Czech Republic, and Hungary are actively fostering innovation and research in AI, while Rwanda, Nigeria, and South Africa are embracing AI to spur economic growth and improve the lives of their citizens.
Microsoft is committed to democratizing breakthroughs in AI through our trusted cloud to help governments, businesses, developers, students, and startups access cutting-edge tools and resources so that they can build their own AI applications, drive innovation and advance digital economies. We work closely with public and private sector partners to innovate new business models, enhance productivity, and solve the pressing challenges facing our society today.
We recently launched a landmark partnership launched with G42 to co-innovate AI solutions that bring advanced industry-specific AI capabilities to organizations across the health and life sciences, energy, and sustainability industries in the UAE. Our partnership with MTN aims to deliver infrastructure that will accelerate Africa’s transformation and enable a connected, digital-first continent. And we are working with Standard Bank to co-create solutions that meet the unique financial needs of African consumers and address the challenges and opportunities facing the continent.
To support startups, our Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub has empowered thousands of founders and entrepreneurs across the region with resources and expertise to take their innovative solutions to the next level. In Africa alone, we are on a journey to accelerate the growth of 10,000 African startups and fast-track investment in the continent’s startup ecosystem over the next five years.
And to help drive the sustainability agenda of the region, we expanded our global AI for Good Lab into Nairobi, Kenya, and Egypt, building a new team of data scientists on the ground in Africa that will work to improve climate resilience. We also launched the AI Africa Innovation Council in partnership with the African Development Bank and African Risk Capacity to improve climate resilience in Africa by leveraging AI solutions.
Microsoft is actively investing in digital infrastructure, such as data centers. How are these investments helping to drive AI innovation across the region?
We believe our investments in digital infrastructure, particularly in data centers, will continue to play a pivotal role in fostering AI innovation across the region. As the cloud and AI become ever more central to the way we live and work, data centers serve as the critical backbone, empowering modern society and fueling the digital economy.
Today, organizations are not only asking “how” they can harness the power of the next generation of AI but also “how fast” they can do so while ensuring safe and responsible deployment. As their trusted cloud partner, it is up to us to enable them to maximize the value of their digital investments through our cloud platform. This commitment to digital infrastructure is also a crucial element of our vision for AI to serve as a copilot, empowering organizations to innovate and solve complex challenges in new ways.
That’s why we take great pride in the investments we’ve made in digital infrastructure throughout the region. Our data centers, strategically located in Poland, Qatar, South Africa and the UAE, and our upcoming facilities in Greece and Saudi Arabia, are providing the essential computing resources and storage capabilities required to support the development and deployment of AI applications. Our commitment to building and operating data centers responsibly and sustainably aligns with our vision of fostering AI innovation that benefits individuals, industries, and economies across the region. These investments are yielding tangible results and driving innovation across various sectors.
In Qatar, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) announced the use of new AI capabilities powered by the Azure cloud, offering Qatari government entities access to the most advanced AI models in the world to innovate and create cutting-edge applications. The work we’re doing with financial services organizations like Nedbank to co-innovate AI-powered sustainability solutions will support climate efforts across all of Africa, and our collaboration with Emirates NBD to develop advanced solutions across everything from customer services to operations will deliver also fantastic use cases for the entire industry.
Bringing cloud and AI services closer to the hands of innovators in our region is also helping manufacturers like Steelmet and BSi Steel benefit from AI solutions that drive agility, help reduce costs, and increase resilience in supply chains. FintechOS is building applications with AI to help banks, financial institutions and insurers across Romania bridge the gap between legacy and digital processes. AI-powered solutions for the energy industry also help leading oil and gas companies like Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries (KIPIC) and Innogy in the Czech Republic to automate workflows, optimize operations, and speed up processes. Health and life sciences organizations including Novartis and Roche are using AI to support better health outcomes, enhance clinician experiences, and improve clinical and operational insights, while retailers like Majid Al Futtaim are gaining actionable insights that are completely revolutionizing not only their business but sparking an entire transformation across the industry.
These examples illustrate just the beginning of the potential of AI-powered technologies. To fully reap the rewards, it is crucial to continue investing in digital infrastructure, ensuring not only accessibility but also long-term sustainability for this transformative technology.
Could you provide specific examples of how Microsoft’s responsible AI approach is impacting industries and societies across the region today, promoting AI for good?
At Microsoft, we firmly believe that when you create technologies that can change the world, you must also ensure that the technology is used responsibly. We are committed to driving responsible AI innovation by sharing our learnings, innovations, and best practices with decision-makers, researchers, and data scientists to support the establishment of national AI policies and regulations that ensure that AI earns the trust and meets the needs and expectations of citizens and residents across the world.
We have developed a set of AI Principles centered around fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability, and we’ve put these principles into practice across our business through our Responsible AI Standard. The Standard serves as an internal playbook, ensuring that the AI products and services we offer our customers and partners align with the company’s values.
Our investments into initiatives such as AI for Earth, AI for Humanitarian Action, and AI for Cultural Heritage are ensuring that AI is tackling key issues such as food security and energy scarcity, while building climate resilience across communities. We are also working to deploy innovative AI solutions for farmers in the region to predict climate changes and optimize water usage through remote sensors and edge devices, satellite imagery and weather data. And we are also expanding our support to farmers across the region through our FarmBeats platform which uses AI, machine learning, and the Internet of Things to help farmers improve their productivity and reduce their costs.
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To support our efforts to democratize access to AI and expand access to this transformative technology, our Azure AI platform also offers robust AI capabilities that can be discussed in a wide variety of languages. This inclusivity is essential in ensuring that the benefits of AI are widely distributed and do not leave anyone behind. Additionally, our Africa Development Centre, with sites in Kenya and Nigeria, is recruiting local engineers to advance AI research and innovation in agritech and other sectors. While in Greece, Qatar, Egypt and other nations, we are collaborating with museum authorities to launch similar interactive AI experiences that preserve and showcase the region’s cultural heritage.
Like any new technology, AI will only be an effective tool if those who are using it know how to do so. Could you share your insights on the strategies and initiatives Microsoft is undertaking to upskill and prepare the existing workforce for the opportunities and demands of an AI-driven job market?
There is little doubt that AI is transforming the workplace. The convergence of chat interfaces and large language models has enabled users to ask for what they want in natural language, and the technology is smart enough to answer, create, or take action. At Microsoft, we think about this as having a copilot to help navigate any task, and we envision a world where everyone will have a copilot for everything they do regardless of their profession.
Our Work Trend Index found that 70 percent of employees would delegate as much work as possible to AI to lessen their workloads, and managers are more interested in using AI to boost productivity and employee well-being than in reducing headcount. While we can’t say for certain how the current job market will be impacted by AI, we know that new jobs will be created that require different skills than traditional jobs. In fact, more than 80 percent of business leaders surveyed in our research said that their employees will need to develop future skills such as data science, machine learning, and programming to prepare for the growth of this technology.
Microsoft is committed to helping prepare the current and future workforce for the opportunities and demands of an AI-driven job market. I’m personally excited to see how young people and startups will find creative ways to innovate using AI technologies. In North Africa, we’ve partnered with INJAZ Al-Arab to empower over 200,000 youth across Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt, and we are also on a journey to provide 10,000 African startups with a wide range of resources, including access to mentors, skilling content, tools like Microsoft Azure and GitHub, and go-to-market and business support to empower them to use the technologies of today to develop the innovations of tomorrow. To ensure that everyone has the opportunity to develop the skills they need to succeed in the AI-driven job market, we are also collaborating with Tech4Dev on the Women Techsters Initiative to train girls and women in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt in coding and deep tech skills.
These are just a few of the many steps we’re taking to help ready the region for the AI era. When I reflect on the opportunity, I see a huge potential for cloud and AI to fundamentally transform industries, governments and the lives of people, in a way we haven’t seen in recent years, and I am excited about what the future holds.
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