Robotics data and training facilities to open in UAE, CNTXT AI co-founder says

CNTXT AI will create several robotics-data facilities in the UAE that the company's co-founder says will give the Emirates a major advantage in the sector.

At least one of the facilities will begin operations in November, with others to quickly follow, Mohammad Abu Sheikh said.

Mr Abu Sheikh said the facilities will play a key role in helping to make the UAE a leader in physical AI.

"The UAE will soon provide a local solution to a universal problem," he said during an interview with The National, referring to the tremendous interest in physical AI.

Data combined with increasingly powerful processors led to the creation of language models that fuel digital AI tools, and physical AI would work in tandem with this, using sensors on everyday objects that could help enhance the efficiency and increase knowledge.

Technology experts and analysts say that data from those objects could vastly improve robots.

Show caption: Mohammad Abu Sheikh, chief executive of CNTXT AI, says the n…

CNTXT AI's robotics data facilities, according to Mr Abu Sheikh, will help the UAE quickly adopt physical AI.

The announcement of the endeavour comes after CNTXT AI solidified plans to invest up to $50 million in robotics hardware, distribution and facilities across the US and Middle East.

"Central to this investment is the 30,000 square feet of robotics-data facilities across Dubai and Abu Dhabi," a news release from CNTXT AI explained.

Mr Abu Sheikh said that at the Dubai robotics data facility, trained workers will wear motion sensor suits to assist robots on various tasks that usually take place in a home or workplace.

Other facilities will focus on something called "egocentric data" collection.

"Lightweight head-mounted equipment will record tasks from the participant’s point of view, preserving hand movements, surrounding context and interaction with objects," CNTXT AI's news release read.

CNTXT AI's chief executive said that because so few facilities like these exist in the world, the UAE would be taking a major step forward in achieving AI sovereignty.

In recent years, the concept of AI and tech sovereignty - a country's ability to govern its own national security using digital tools, without having to rely on another nation - has gained momentum as countries look to capitalise on the economic benefits of AI.

Show caption: Proponents of physical AI say that sensors and AI technology…

"Absolutely 100 per cent," Mr Sheikh said, when asked whether the new facilities would help the UAE towards this goal.

"Where else in the world would you be able to collect this kind of data safely on this kind of scale, with these kind of benchmarks, and use it to actually build global kind of solutions and deploy them?"

CNTXT AI was founded in Abu Dhabi in 2024 and describes itself as a "data-first AI company" that assists companies looking to "build, deploy, and scale sovereign AI solutions", while also letting those entities keep control over their proprietary data.

One of its flagship product offerings, Munsit, is an Arabic speech-to-text AI model which CNTXT says was "trained from more than 30,000 hours of real-world Arabic audio, covering more than 25 dialects".

According to CNTXT's chief executive, the company has passed the threshold of $300 million in committed revenue, and will soon open its first office in San Francisco.

"The move to California is going really well and we're getting a lot of traction," Mr Sheikh said.

"Most of our clients right now come from that area so it's been a very positive experience."

Earlier this year, the company announced that it had secured $60 million in a Series A funding round co-led by BlueFive Capital and ai71.

CNTXT AI also has plans to open an egocentric data site in Jordan as well as another facility in India. The egocentric data site in Amman is expected to operate around the clock and open by the end of November.