Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice-president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, has asked for a study on ChatGPT to gauge the impact of such AI technologies on the region. 

According to local media reports, this came as Sheikh Mohammed chaired a UAE Cabinet meeting on 6 February. 

He said the cabinet had approved plans for a study that will look into how the UAE can benefit from new artificial intelligence technologies such as ChatGPT and its future effects on education, health, media and other sectors.

The study will assess "how the government will deal positively and safely with these technologies", he said.

ChatGPT uses AI to convincingly mimic human writing. The software by California company OpenAI has been trained on billions of words and tonnes of online data, enabling it to write surprisingly human-like texts, including passable school essays.

ChatGPT can generate articles, essays, jokes and even poetry in response to prompts. Backed by Microsoft Corp, OpenAI made the technology available to the public for free in late November.

International Investment asked ChatGPT the following question: "Write two paragraphs on how Chat GPT can safely benefit UAE government" to which it responded: 

"ChatGPT can safely benefit the UAE government by providing quick and accurate responses to a wide range of inquiries and requests. As a language model, it has been trained on vast amounts of data, making it capable of understanding and responding to a variety of questions and statements in natural language. This can be a valuable tool for the government, as it can assist with answering common inquiries from citizens, reducing the workload of government employees and improving the speed and efficiency of the government's response.

"In addition, ChatGPT can be used to provide information and support in a safe and secure manner. It can be integrated into the government's systems and processes, allowing it to access relevant information and data while maintaining privacy and security.

This helps to ensure that sensitive information remains protected, while still providing citizens with the information they need. Additionally, ChatGPT can be used to automate routine tasks, freeing up government employees to focus on more complex and strategic initiatives." Source: ChatGPT

Meanwhile Google owner Alphabet said on 6 February it will launch a chatbot service and more artificial intelligence for its search engine as well as developers, an answer to Microsoft Corp in their rivalry to lead a new wave of computing.

In a blog post, Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai said his company is opening a conversational AI service called Bard to test users for feedback, followed by a public release in the coming weeks.