Representational image of the flag of the United Arab Emirates [File]
| Photo Credit: AP

The United Arab Emirates scuttled meetings this month between U.S. Congressional staffers and G42 after U.S. lawmakers raised concerns the Emirati AI firm could transfer powerful U.S. AI technology to China, according to a congressional spokesperson.

The UAE Ambassador to the U.S. “personally intervened” to stop staffers from the House Select Committee on China from meeting G42 and Emirati government officials, said the person, who was briefed on the cancellations and declined to be named because of internal committee policies.

U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns about a $1.5 billion investment by Microsoft in G42, fearing sensitive technology could be transferred to the UAE firm, which has historic ties to China.

“The committee has even more concerns about the G42-Microsoft deal given the UAE refusal to meet with congressional staff to discuss these issues. As a result, expect Congress to get more involved in oversight of these negotiations,” the committee spokesperson told Reuters.

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The canceled meetings could signal diplomatic fallout from growing efforts by China hardliners in Congress to scrutinize the G42-Microsoft deal and rein in the flow of sensitive AI technology to the Middle East over fears of diversion to China.

The State Department declined to comment. A spokesperson for G42 refers questions to the Emirati government.

A spokesperson for the UAE embassy said: “There clearly was a miscommunication around the visit” noting that the UAE Embassy “was only made aware of the staff delegation shortly before it was about to arrive.”

The Embassy has met and talked with many of the Committee’s members and staffers in recent months, the spokesperson said. “The Committee has been briefed regularly as the UAE and U.S. work to strengthen the control of advanced technologies critical to both countries’ shared security interests.”

The staffers had sought the meetings as part of a regional visit on July 16-19 to discuss the transfer of sophisticated chips from companies like Nvidia to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the spokesperson added, as well as U.S.-China tech competition.

According to the spokesperson, Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba cited a July 11 letter sent by committee chairman John Moolenaar to U.S. National Security Advisory Jake Sullivan seeking an intelligence assessment of Microsoft’s investment in G42.

The July letter, also signed by House Foreign Affairs chair Michael McCaul, sought the White House briefing before Microsoft’s investment in G42 could advance to a second phase involving the transfer of export-restricted semiconductor chips from Nvidia and model weights, sophisticated data that improves an AI model’s ability to emulate human reasoning.

The Biden administration imposed sweeping new curbs on AI chip exports last year in a bid to cut off more avenues for China to obtain them, imposing a licensing requirement on their shipment to the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries.

The Biden administration has defended the G42-Microsoft deal, because it forced G42 to sever ties to China’s Huawei.

The regional visit, which included staffers from both the Democratic and Republican parties, also included a meeting with Saudi officials, who “were very eager to meet with the delegation and expressed a strong desire to address any U.S. concerns about (Chinese government) activities in Saudi Arabia to receive permission to import U.S. advanced chips,” the spokesperson added.