G42 (company)

Group 42 Holding Ltd, doing business as G42, is a technology holding company based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The organization is oriented to the development of AI industries in the government sector, healthcare, finance, oil and gas, aviation, and hospitality.

Group 42 Holding Ltd
TypePrivate
Industry
Founded2018 (2018)
HeadquartersAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Area served
Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Europe, United States
Key people
Number of employees
22,000 (2023)[1]
SubsidiariesG42 Healthcare
Websiteg42.ai

Corporate history

G42 was founded in 2018 and is based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.[2] It comprises a multidisciplinary and diverse team of data scientists and engineers. The company performs fundamental AI research and development processes on big data, AI, and machine learning via its subsidiary the Inception Institute of Artificial Intelligence (IIAI).[3] The company is chaired by the National Security Advisor of UAE, Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also its controlling shareholder.[4][5] Peng Xiao is the Group CEO.[6]

In 2020, state-owned Mubadala took a stake in the company, transferring ownership of two information technology companies, Injazat and Khazna to G42.[7] The next year, American private equity firm Silver Lake invested $800 million for a minority stake.[8][9]

Portfolio companies
  • Bayanat: On 14 January 2020, G42 announced the acquisition of Bayanat for Mapping and Surveying Services LLC, an end-to-end and custom provider of geospatial data products and services. The acquisition was said to complement G42's suite of satellite-based services, leveraging its proficiency in data analytics and artificial intelligence methods.[10][11][12]

Partnerships and initiatives
  • Adalytyx: On 23 December 2019, Group 42 announced signing an agreement of strategic partnership with Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company (ADDH) for the establishment of a joint venture called Adalytyx.[13]
  • BGI Group: G42 was reported to have donated Chinese-made Covid testing kits to Nevada. These testing kits were objected to by the US intelligence and security officials, who raised concerns over privacy risks, citing that the gene-sequencing machines of the BGI Group could misuse the patients’ DNA. G42 is also reportedly working with BGI on a project for collecting genetic data of the UAE citizens to “generate the highest quality, most comprehensive genome data”.[14][15]
  • Cerebras: Cerebras partnered with G42 to deploy its AI supercomputers to create chatbots and analyze genomic and preventive care data. In July 2023, G42 agreed to pay around $100 million to purchase the first of potentially nine supercomputers from Cerebras, each of which is capable of 4 exaflops of computing.[16][17][18]
  • Rafael and IAI: On 2 July 2020, G42 announced the signing a memorandum of understanding with two Israeli defense groups – Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries – to research and develop methods to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The Israeli defense firms’ subsidiary Elta confirmed the agreement.[19][20]
  • ToTok: Group 42 was reportedly the sole registered shareholder of the free messaging, video, and voice-calling mobile application, ToTok. The application was downloaded by users in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa, within several months. The application was accused of being "used by the government of the United Arab Emirates to try to track every conversation, movement, relationship, appointment, sound and image of those who install it," in a New York Times exposé in December 2019.[21] Following the allegations, the application was removed by Apple and Google from their application stores. Reportedly, the CEO of G42 has also been running Pegasus – a subsidiary of an Emirati security firm, DarkMatter, which received scrutiny over the hiring of former CIA and NSA officials to spy on Americans, dissidents, and political rivals. The company, however, denies having any connection with DarkMatter.[22][23]

References
  1. Takahashi, Dean (20 July 2023). "Cerebras unveils world's largest AI training supercomputer with 54M cores". VentureBeat.
  2. England, Andrew; Kerr, Simeon (24 January 2021). "The Abu Dhabi royal at the nexus of UAE business and national security". Financial Times.
  3. "About G42". Group 42. Archived from the original on 2022-03-07. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  4. Cornwell, Alexander (18 August 2022). "Mubadala-backed AI firm G42 sets up $10 bln tech fund". Reuters.
  5. Baigorri, Manuel; Bartenstein, Ben; Cao, Dong (14 March 2023). "UAE Spy Chief's Firm Buys Into ByteDance at $220 Billion Value". Bloomberg News.
  6. Cabral, Alvin R. (27 April 2023). "Regulatory oversight called for as generative AI takes centre-stage". The National.
  7. "Abu Dhabi's Mubadala takes stake in local AI company G42". Reuters. 2 November 2020.
  8. Gottfried, Miriam (14 April 2021). "Silver Lake Invests About $800 Million for Minority Stake in Abu Dhabi's G42". The Wall Street Journal.
  9. Sapra, Bani (15 April 2021). "Silver Lake funnels $800 million into Abu Dhabi-based G42". Wired.
  10. "Artificial intelligence company Group 42 acquires Abu Dhabi-based Bayanat". The National. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  11. "G42 Announces the Acquisition of Bayanat". Group 42. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  12. "Group 42 announces acquisition of Bayanat". Emirates News Agency. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  13. "ADDH and G42 Announce Joint Venture". Group 42. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  14. "US warned Nevada not to use Chinese COVID tests from UAE". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 16 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  15. "Chinese Covid-19 Tests Were Pushed by Federal Agencies Despite Security Warnings". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  16. Nellis, Stephen; Hu, Krystal (20 July 2023). "Cerebras Systems signs $100 mln AI supercomputer deal with UAE's G42". Reuters.
  17. Lu, Yiwen (20 July 2023). "An A.I. Supercomputer Whirs to Life, Powered by Giant Computer Chips". The New York Times.
  18. Moore, Samuel K. (20 July 2023). "Cerebras Introduces Its 2-Exaflop AI Supercomputer". IEEE Spectrum.
  19. "Israeli, UAE technology firms pen deal on virus research". ABC News. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  20. "Group 42 joins forces with Israeli Rafael and IAI to defeat Covid-19". Emirates News Agency. Archived from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  21. "It Seemed Like a Popular Chat App. It's Secretly a Spy Tool". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  22. "Co-creator defends suspected UAE spying app called ToTok". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  23. "Google and Apple remove alleged UAE spy app ToTok". BBC. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
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