AI: The New Global Hegemon 2

Why the world needs a multilateral compact on AI, and why the Arab world cannot afford to wait

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh
April 2026 - Continued from part one

I recognize and acknowledge that AI is already doing much good for the world. Among its many applications, scientists are ...

The UN’s Initial 2026 AI Consultations

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh

The UN has entered an important phase in its work on AI governance, with consultations taking place throughout April 2026. I proudly served in several UN bodies over the years, including my time as Chairman of the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development, having ...

Our Brothers in Gulf: Their economy redefines itself

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh

The economies of our Gulf Arab countries have emerged as a case that deserves close attention; not because they are immune to crises, but because they offer a different model for handling them.
What is particularly notable is that the resilience of Gulf ...

The Linguistic Mirage of AI

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh

AI systems are now able interact with us in the native fluency of almost any language, yet beneath this multilingual surface lies a single dominant worldview. While the fluency is certainly impressive, it is not a true understanding and rather a linguistic ...

My Advice to Every Business Leader Regarding AI

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh

I have spent more than five decades at the intersection of commerce, technology, and institutional development. I have watched ideas become industries, and I have seen empires dissolve. What separates the enduring from the ephemeral is never the speed of adoption, ...

Geopolitical Implications on the Economies of the Global South

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh

With geopolitical tensions re-emerging at the center of the energy market, countries of the Global South appear to be entering a new phase of heightened and overlapping vulnerability. Energy crises are increasingly now intersecting with persistent financial ...

Diplomacy is Reason’s Last Resort

War yields no true victors, only death and destruction, with no loser except humanity itself. As events in the Middle East continue to accelerate, the statement of Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, sounds the alarm, reflecting a voice of reason rejecting what ...

The Human Responsibility Behind AI

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh
In 1965 after my first computer course at IBM in the UK I came to understand that technology would become one of the most important forces guiding our future, and I built TAG.Global as a technology firm in the early 70s. We are now well into a digital era in which ...

Why Global Solidarity is Not Optional

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh

The international community is entering a period of significant uncertainty as recent decisions by the United States to withdraw from 66 international organizations including 31 UN entities have created a moment of profound concern for global cooperation. This ...

Targeting Lebanon’s Culture is Unforgivable Act

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh

It is not the name ‘Talal’ alone that binds me with the great Lebanese poet ‘Talal Haydar’, rather our shared love for Lebanon, Fairuz, and the beauty of language. Although our lives took different paths, with him devoting his life to art, ...