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Amira Khalil

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  • 5 min read

AIREV has announced that Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Foreign Trade, has assumed the chairmanship of the Board of Directors of the UAE-based AI company behind OnDemand, a sovereign-grade agentic AI operating system engineered in the UAE and deployed in markets worldwide.

The move aligns one of the country’s flagship technology companies with the national trade agenda, as the UAE works to expand its export base into high-value digital and AI services.

Al Zeyoudi’s new position reflects the growing role of advanced technologies and digital services within the UAE’s foreign trade strategy, following a record year for the country’s non-oil trade performance.

Al Zeyoudi said the growth of AI in the UAE through companies such as AIREV reflects the next stage of the country’s export ambitions. “The UAE has built one of the world’s most dynamic trading economies, and our next frontier is to export not only goods and services, but homegrown technology and the intellectual property behind it. AIREV is a UAE company whose sovereign platform and agentic solutions have earned the validation of leading global technology firms and now travels into the world’s most demanding markets. I look forward to supporting the company as it scales, ensuring its growth contributes directly to our national goal of increasing non-oil exports and consolidating the UAE’s position as a hub for advanced industries.”

AIREV entered the UAE market through the NextGen FDI initiative and was anchored by Core42, a G42 company, in February 2024. In the roughly two and a half years since, it has grown into a production-grade agentic operating system carrying a valuation of approximately US$200 million.

Its flagship platform, OnDemand, is a no- and low-code operating system for building, deploying, and managing autonomous AI agents. The platform is designed to run wherever a customer requires, giving governments and regulated enterprises full control over their data, models, and infrastructure. OnDemand serves more than four million AI-first users worldwide and offers over 300 specialised agents and tools across more than 50 languages.

Over the past year, AIREV has established a network of strategic partnerships spanning the global AI and semiconductor ecosystem. The company entered a strategic partnership with Intel to optimise OnDemand for Intel processors and subsequently to bring autonomous AI agents to Intel’s next-generation AI PCs. It also entered a partnership with US chip company Tenstorrent to co-develop a high-performance agentic AI stack for enterprise and sovereign applications, launching a dedicated Agentic AI Development Node in the UAE.

Working through the private sector, AIREV has registered OnDemand for the North American market and built a distribution pipeline reaching from Abu Dhabi into the United States technology economy – the first time a UAE software company has combined silicon certification, hardware pre-install, and US-market registration in a single, self-reinforcing motion. The scale of that activity is measured in throughput: across 2025, AIREV’s products collectively surpassed one trillion tokens, a first among GCC technology companies at that scale, and in the second quarter of 2026 alone reached 6.8 trillion, roughly a sixfold increase. Each token generated abroad represents a unit of UAE-engineered intelligence delivered into a foreign market.

The company’s capital base reflects the same export thesis. Alongside Core42, AIREV has attracted inbound investment from VentureWave Capital, one of Ireland’s leading venture firms, together with Titian Capital, and is currently progressing a Series A2 funding round. On the distribution side, Redington, one of the largest technology distributors across the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, has been appointed as AIREV’s distributor for 2026 to 2027 with planned expansion into Europe, giving OnDemand an established channel reach at scale.

Muhammad Khalid, Founder and CEO of AIREV, said the chairmanship gives the company an exceptional platform for global growth. “To have Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi as Chairman is an important moment on AIREV’s journey by linking the UAE’s foreign trade strategy of expanding the nation’s network of partners with a company that exports developed technology to markets around the world. Together, we will continue to prove that Emirati AI is not only globally viable, but globally exportable.”

AIREV’s growth reflects a wider shift that the UAE’s trade strategy is working to accelerate: moving the country from an importer of advanced technology to an exporter of it. By embedding UAE-engineered software inside certified global hardware and carrying it outward through established enterprise and government channels, every OnDemand deployment abroad converts domestic software engineering into non-oil export value – the highest-margin and fastest-compounding category of the diversification mandate set out in the ‘We the UAE 2031’ vision.

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  • AI, Government, Media, Press Release, UAE

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AI content labeling rules
  • Regulations

The European Union’s AI content labeling rules took effect on 2 August, requiring companies to mark realistic content made or altered by artificial intelligence with visible and machine-readable signals.

The measure sits inside the EU AI Act, the first broad legal framework for the technology. Its aim is to cut misinformation and give people a clear signal when a machine, not a person, produced what they see or read.

The AI content labeling rules reach across formats. Companies must tell users when they interact with an AI chatbot or view synthetic media built to look real. Providers of generative systems must embed markers so images, audio, video, and text can be detected as AI-generated content. Text published to inform the public on matters of public interest also needs a clear label.

The duty splits in two. Firms that build generative systems embed the machine-readable marks. Those that deploy the output must disclose it, above all when the content could pass for real.

How the marking works

For most formats, the mark works on two levels. A watermark sits inside the content, and signed metadata travels with it. Plain text is treated differently and does not carry the watermark. Detection tools can then flag the material as artificially generated or changed. Fines under the AI content labeling rules are now a reality.

Penalties are steep. Breaches can draw fines of up to €15 million or 3% of a company’s total worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher. For deepfakes, the duty is direct. Anyone using AI to create one must disclose that the content was generated or manipulated.

The AI labeling requirements apply to chatbots, virtual assistants, and any system meant to interact with people. Such systems must be built so users know they face a machine.

Exemptions and grace period

The law carves out clear exceptions. Artistic, satirical, and fictional works stay outside the mandate, as does material made by individuals for personal use. A private group-chat joke is safe. Creative work still carries a lighter disclosure, one shaped so it does not spoil the piece.

One carve-out matters for publishers. AI-written text escapes the labeling duty when a person with real editorial responsibility reviews it and stands behind it. An editor who checks and approves an AI draft can meet that bar.

Developers of existing AI systems get a four-month window to reach full compliance. New systems placed on the EU market face the 2 August date now.

AI transparency rules and public trust

To help firms apply the AI transparency rules, the European Commission published guidelines and a voluntary Code of Practice on the transparency of AI-generated content. Independent experts drew up the code with input from hundreds of stakeholders. Following it is optional. The underlying Article 50 duties are law.

Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, said the guidelines support the smooth application of the AI Act and help citizens recognise when they deal with AI. She tied the work to building trust and giving innovators firmer ground.

The AI content labeling rules arrive as some technology firms question the wide scope of content that needs a mark. Those same firms back the broader effort against AI-driven misinformation. A separate simplification package could push the machine-marking deadline later in the year, though the core obligations apply now.

  • 3 min read
Emirates NBD acquires HSBC Egypt
  • GCC

Emirates NBD acquires HSBC Egypt’s retail banking business under a definitive agreement announced on Sunday, a plan that widens the Dubai lender’s consumer reach in the Arab world’s most populous market. The wholly owned Egyptian unit, Emirates NBD Egypt, will take on the portfolio once regulators sign off. Neither bank disclosed the price. Let’s see what the deal covers.

The transaction moves HSBC Egypt’s retail banking assets and liabilities to Emirates NBD Egypt. Retail banking covers everyday services for individual customers, such as accounts, deposits, loans and cards. Included in the sale are HSBC Egypt’s branches, its ATM network, its customer base and the employees who support the business. Customers of HSBC Egypt retail banking face no immediate change, and their products keep running as normal while the two sides prepare the handover.

Why does Emirates NBD acquire HSBC Egypt now?

Egypt sits near the center of Emirates NBD’s regional growth plan. The bank describes the country as a core market central to those ambitions. Emirates NBD entered the Egyptian market in 2013 and has expanded its branch network since. Adding the HSBC book builds scale in retail and premium banking, the service tier aimed at higher-income clients. This Emirates NBD acquisition also deepens ties along the UAE-Egypt banking corridor, the flow of trade, payments and investment between the two economies.

HSBC steps back from Egyptian retail

For HSBC, the sale trims a business the group no longer treats as core. The lender has operated in Egypt since 1982. This HSBC Egypt sale follows a strategic review announced in 2025, part of a wider effort to simplify the group and focus where it holds stronger positions. HSBC expects a pre-tax gain of about $300 million, which it plans to book mostly at completion. The group keeps its corporate and institutional banking arm in the country, so it narrows its presence rather than leaving.

Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Emirates NBD and Chairman of Emirates NBD Egypt, said the investment reflects the bank’s confidence in Egypt’s market and its long-term growth prospects. Group Chief Executive Shayne Nelson described the purchase as a step in the bank’s regional strategy and its plan to grow its customer base in the country. Both sides target the second half of 2027 for completion, subject to regulatory approvals, including clearance from the Central Bank of Egypt.

What it means for customers

As Emirates NBD acquires HSBC Egypt’s retail arm, customers keep their accounts, cards and services for now. No account will change hands until regulators approve the deal and the two banks complete the transfer. HSBC and Emirates NBD said they will work together on a smooth move for staff and customers. Anyone with an HSBC Egypt account can keep using it as usual in the meantime.

What comes next

Amr ElShafei, Chief Executive and Managing Director of Emirates NBD Egypt, said the bank looks forward to welcoming HSBC customers and offering digital services backed by the wider group. Once Emirates NBD acquires HSBC Egypt, the lender gains more current accounts, deposits and card relationships across a combined branch and digital network. The full effect on customers will depend on how the two banks manage the transfer through 2027.

  • 3 min read
Dubai Media Narrative Committee

The Dubai Media Narrative Committee will take charge of how the emirate speaks to the world, under a decision issued by the Dubai Media Council. Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Second Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Chairman of the Council, approved the move. The committee’s job ranges from aligning messages among government bodies to shaping how Dubai deals with international media.

Who leads the committee?

Mona Ghanem Al Marri, Vice Chairperson and Managing Director of the Dubai Media Council, will chair the new body. She frames the decision as a response to how much weight a country’s story now carries. A strong media narrative, she said, drives strategic influence and helps build awareness and shape how people see a place. Mona Al Marri continued:

“In today’s world, a strong media narrative is a key driver of strategic influence and an essential tool for building awareness and shaping perceptions,” she said.

“The ability to develop an influential media narrative has become a strategic imperative. Those capable of shaping their story and communicating it creatively and authentically, while sustaining its impact, are better positioned to build trust and strengthen their influence.”

Al Marri set out how the committee will operate. Its framework rests on clear messaging, coordinated effort, complementary roles, quick response, and the use of facts and figures. Credibility and transparency sit at the center of that approach. She said cities that can tell their story clearly, tie it to shared human values, and turn it into something people find inspiring will hold the advantage.

What the committee governs

The Dubai Media Narrative Committee will propose policies, plans, and priorities, working alongside relevant entities. Its recommendations go to the Dubai Media Council for approval, and the committee then tracks how they are put into practice. This structure keeps decisions accountable to a single body rather than scattered across departments.

It will also design ways to coordinate media work across government, semi-government, and private sector groups. The goal is complementary roles and less duplication. On the global side, the committee guides Dubai’s official presence across international platforms and channels, and works to build steadier ties with foreign media.

Measuring the message

Part of the mandate is self-assessment. The committee will set key performance indicators and prepare analytical reports on media trends at home and abroad. Those insights feed back to the Dubai Media Council to support decisions and point to where the approach can improve. The committee may also give technical advice on media matters when the Council or other entities ask.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed described the decision as a strategic step toward an integrated institutional framework, one that keeps key messages consistent and strengthens their reach. A clear, unified narrative grounded in facts builds trust, he said, and supports Dubai’s standing as a city focused on opportunity. He linked the effort to the long-running vision of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed said: “A clear and unified media narrative provides a strategic point of reference grounded in facts, strengthens trust, and further enhances Dubai’s global standing as an inspiring city committed to shaping a future rich with opportunities for all,”.

Wider role in Dubai media strategy

The committee fits inside a broader Dubai media strategy that the Council has pushed over recent years. Permanent or temporary teams may support its work, and the Council can hand it further duties in line with the UAE’s media policies. Under the decision, every government entity in Dubai must cooperate and share the data, statistics, studies, and reports the committee requires. The General Secretariat of the Dubai Media Council will provide administrative and technical backing.

The formation of the Dubai Media Narrative Committee places responsibility for the emirate’s public voice with one accountable body. How it performs will show in the reports it sends back to the Council, and in whether Dubai’s message reads as consistent across the channels it reaches.

  • 4 min read
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