00:00Oil giants in the Middle East are using the region's oldest resource to finance a multi-billion dollar bet on a new one artificial intelligence. Saudi Arabia's Aramco and the UAE's Adnok are stepping up cooperation with national AI champions as the global race ramps up. Bloomberg's Harman Shmouri is here. I've got to say I've been in a very privileged position where I've actually visited the Aramco headquarters. I visited Adnok. And one of the things that stood out to me is just how much both of those companies have invested in
00:29AI. Aramco have this industrial LLM model called MetaBrain. Adnok have a digital command center called Panorama. So they've really invested a lot in artificial intelligence. But what's interesting now is they're also seeing an opportunity to perhaps use some of that expertise and channel it into these AI champions. Absolutely. So this week's deal between Aramco and Humane is a case in case in point. Their digital unit was seen as a success. And this is why the CEO of Aramco
00:59Digital Unit was chosen to lead Humane was chosen to lead Humane. So that was a testament to the work that they've been doing. And it shows that they can get things done. So in Saudi Arabia's AI ecosystem, Aramco was seen as a bright spot. And Humane's formation took much of that leadership and moved it to Humane's side.
01:20Yeah. So why is it you think that so many of these GCC nations are actually leaning on the oil giants to help with the development of these AI national champions, as I was just describing?
01:34Right. So that was one reason that they get things done and they've got a proven track record in the case of Aramco Digital. But also, you know, AI requires immense resources in terms of energy and money, both of which that these state oil giants have no shortage of.
01:49And they can also provide the ability to take huge bets on these nascent technologies and provide the necessary financial padding if these don't work out.
02:00Yeah. And in terms of the direct stakes, I mean, some people would say, why are these energy giants taking direct stakes?
02:08You've got Aramco with Humane, as you were just describing. Then you've got Adnock with AIQ as well.
02:14Right. So one reason is that they expect to be key beneficiaries of these new technologies. So we're already hearing that they're cutting costs through these AI
02:25applications. In the case of AIQ, they're using Adnock's data for the last 50 years and applying it across, like, all fields and cost cutting.
02:32Aramco's CEO said this week that they're saving billions of dollars from the adoption of AI.
02:37Yeah. That's one reason for the direct involvement that they see benefits to their business as well.
02:44Yeah. I guess one of the other advantages is the sheer amount of data that these energy giants are sitting on as well.
02:52I remember at one point when I was speaking to Aramco, they were saying something like they get, I don't know, a trillion parameters a day for their LLM model.
03:00So that's also very powerful because your output is only as strong as your inputs and the data that you have.
03:07Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, it's also a way for them to adapt.
03:11Aramco's CEO told you earlier this year that they see themselves as a technology technology company primarily.
03:16So that's a way for them to, like, think of a potentially post-toil future.
03:20And, you know, we can't isolate them from their own states, which are now undergoing immense and huge economic diversification drives that are enabled by the old days.
03:29Yeah. One of Aramco's partners is Grok.
03:32I spoke to the CEO this week and he was saying that he thinks humane is to AI what Aramco is to energy.
03:40So, yeah, very interesting perspective there.
Be the first to comment