On January 28-29, the inaugural cohort of the ORF America U.S.-India AI Fellowship Program met in Abu Dhabi for Raisina Middle East, co-hosted by Observer Research Foundation, ORF Middle East, the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India, and the United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This was an opportunity for the AI Fellows to engage in conversations on technology policy issues and challenges in AI affecting the United States, India, the Middle East, and the rest of the world.   

During the conference, the fellows attended plenary sessions focused on deep tech, regional connectivity, and the implications of new developments in AI for the Global South. In addition, ORF America’s U.S.-India AI Fellows huddled with Observer Research Foundation’s U.S.-India AI Taskforce of senior Indian and American experts for roundtable conversations on the substantive aspects of challenges in semiconductor hardware, large language model training and inference, data center deployment, the implications of latest developments in the field, innovation and workforce challenges, and opportunities for U.S.-India collaboration and partnership in AI. The cohort also participated in breakout sessions on their research and networking opportunities. Finally, the fellows visited G42’s offices in Abu Dhabi to learn about the company's broader work and G42-Microsoft’s collaborative efforts on responsible AI.