Serbia, UAE expanding AI use cases with new partnership

Officials from Serbia and the United Arab Emirates have inked a deal to explore artificial intelligence (AI) innovation and novel use cases for the technology.

Both nations will pursue joint AI research and development under similar ideals, putting consumer safety at the top. The new bilateral agreement, signed during the World Government Summit in Dubai, is Serbia’s first attempt at exploring joint AI research outside the European Union.

The Balkan nation, led by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, disclosed its intention to leverage UAE’s large language model (LLM) for local use cases. In 2023, the UAE announced plans to have its native LLM be less reliant on offerings from the United States, Europe, and China, citing national security and cultural concerns.

Serbian officials present during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) include the Director of the Serbian Institute for Research and Development for AI, Dubravko Culibrk, and Information and Telecommunications Minister Mihailo Jovanovic.

While official details are yet to be published, Serbian officials appear poised to follow the UAE’s stance in localizing LLMs to fit cultural nuances and remove language barriers.

“The UAE has developed its own language model that serves the purpose of teaching a computer something and sending data to it, and then it process that data and provides answers to various question,” said Brnabić.

Going forward, Serbian researchers and AI firms in the Balkan country will be allowed to use the localized LLM under the MOU without any geo-restrictions.

Serbia and the UAE delegation, spearheaded by Faisal Al Bannai, Secretary General of the Advanced Technology Research Council, also affirmed their commitment to responsible AI development while placing consumers’ safety and privacy at the top of the pile.

Building on a solid foundation

Serbia and the UAE are not strangers to AI, with both nations committing a significant chunk of their national budgets to developing emerging technologies.

The UAE, keen to be the leading hub in the Middle East, is adopting a national strategy
toward educating residents on AI designed to deepen the local talent pool. Furthermore, the UAE’s ambitions have pitted it against Saudi Arabia, with both nations reportedly
spending millions of dollars on advanced AI chips.

For Serbia, introducing a Smart Police Station and a MoU with cloud computing firm G42 Cloud has been described as a statement of intent for its AI objectives. The country is eyeing applications across several key sectors, including aviation, health, finance, transport, supply chain, and manufacturing.

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