Launch of New Artificial Intelligence Initiative AIx31

Black and Bird & Bird Launch a New Artificial Intelligence Initiative to Upskill Talent, Remove Barriers to Innovation, and Provide Regulatory Guidance

May 2020 — Press Release

The newly launched AIx31 initiative is inspired by the UAE AI Strategy 2031 and is positioned to aid and accelerate the transition towards an artificial intelligence enabled future.

The highlights of the initiative include an AI webinar series in partnership with AREA 2071, and a report outlining a roadmap for organizations and government entities to plan and launch successful artificial intelligence use cases.

Leaders across high growth companies in the region are prepared for significant upskilling in order to better prepare for AI deployment.

Black and Bird & Bird have launched an artificial intelligence initiative to support businesses and government entities as they reimagine and claim their role in an AI-driven world.

The AIx31 initiative includes reports, public programs and advisory to achieve readiness, design strategic roadmaps, and launch successful AI pilots. The first report released earlier this month is titled “Rethinking Business In The Age of AI”, diving into relevant data and exploring the challenges and opportunities in the adoption of artificial intelligence.

“Rethinking Business In The Age of AI is a manifesto to empower and enable AI adoption for governments and organisations in the region.”

— Cheyenne Kamran, Global Digital Director at Black

“We are delighted to collaborate with Black on the AIx31 initiative. At Bird & Bird, we are acutely aware of the importance of the region successfully transitioning into an AI-powered future, but the path is paved with legal and regulatory challenges.”

— David Bintliff, Head of TMT at Bird & Bird

The public programs will be run in partnership with AREA 2071 in the Dubai Future Foundation, a physical and digital ecosystem purposefully designed to connect corporates, governments, startups, talents, the youth, and the public to co-create the future. By launching and collaborating on programs, AREA 2071 creates a platform where talents can showcase their ideas and innovations to find solutions to global challenges.

The first series of public programs will launch virtually, focusing on best practices and approaches that businesses and government entities can take to align with and capitalize on the UAE AI Strategy 2031.

“With this new webinar series, AREA 2071 continues to advance the innovation ecosystem by enabling corporate and government intrapreneurs to create their success story with AI.”

— Maha Al Mezaina, Director of AREA 2071 in the Dubai Future Foundation

The UAE is leading efforts in artificial intelligence, since the initial formation of the UAE AI Strategy 2031 by UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, His Excellency Omar Sultan AlOlama. With 2021 marking the launch of the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, the UAE is a natural fit for the initiative.

The AIx31 initiative is designed with three outcomes in mind:

• Upskilling Talent: Organisational success in the future will require AI-literate employees with the ability to rationalise the business value of AI strategies, in effect, to remain relevant in the present, and to become future-ready.
• Removing Barriers to Innovation: To connect organisational challenges to compelling AI strategies, and embed innovation frameworks that ensure successful adoption.
• Providing Regulatory Guidance: To work with organisations to navigate the new legal and regulatory challenges arising from the adoption of AI-enabled technologies and processes, while maintaining proper legal and ethical frameworks around the use and storage of data.

“Our role in the initiative is to help government departments and organisations navigate the challenging legal and regulatory territory that is emerging in an AI world.”

— Chris Eklund, Media, Entertainment, Technology and Sports Lawyer at Bird & Bird

Dr. Petar Stojanov has been an outspoken advocate of the possibilities that AI offers. He is mindful of the current and future challenges organisations face as they transition to an AI-enabled future.

“We stand at a nexus of three converging trends; high volume and access to data, vast computational power, and the acceleration of digital transformation as a result of the pandemic.”

— Dr. Petar Stojanov, Future Strategy Practice Lead at Black

The Black Paper Rethinking Business In The Age of AI is available for free download at createdbyblack.com/blackpaper/artificial-intelligence.

The inaugural public program of the AIx31 initiative AI Success and Failures In The New Normal will be held on June 8 via webinar and attendees can register at blkdxb.com/ai-webinar-june8. The series will feature expert speakers from Microsoft, IBM, Huawei and other global industry leaders.

About Black

Black is a design and innovation advisory with more than two decades of working with C-suites to shape organizational identities and cultures, reimagine problems and solutions, and ignite innovation and growth across entities in the public and private sectors.
createdbyblack.com

About Bird & Bird

Bird & Bird is a leading international law firm that specializes in serving sectors of business in which technology plays a key role. Bird & Bird’s vision is to be the number one law firm in the world for organisations being changed by the digital world or those leading that change. We will help you navigate the legal, ethical and regulatory issues around supporting, nurturing and promoting the responsible use of AI, drafting a legal framework to support – and potentially mandate – the responsible use of AI and creating a consensus that you can adopt in your use of AI.
twobirds.com