In a power-hungry world, oil still key for Al future: Al Jaber

MINISTER SAYS UAE POSITIONING ITSELF AS HUB FOR ENERGY-INTENSIVE INDUSTRIES

- BY NIVETHA DAYANAND

The global race to scale artificial intelligence is colliding with a physical constraint that no amount of code can bypass. Computing power needs electricity, and lots of it.

Speaking in Abu Dhabi this week, Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, MD and Group CEO of Adnoc, Executive Chairman of XRG and Chairman of Masdar, made the case that the future of growth will be decided not just by algorithms and data, but by who can deliver energy at scale, reliably and responsibly.

"There is no artificial intelligence without actual energy," Al Jaber said during his keynote at Abu Dhabi Sustainable Week. "Every algorithm, every data centre, every breakthrough and advanced technology needs power to drive it."

New metric of growth

Economic growth, Al Jaber argued, is undergoing a structural shift. Industrial capacity defined progress for more than two centuries. That metric is now being replaced by computational power and digital capability, with AI reshaping industries from manufacturing and aviation to health care and finance.