Study abroad: UAE’s AI university draws interns from top US schools

The Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) in Abu Dhabi is attracting a growing number of US students, with one in four participants in its recent monthlong internship program coming from American universities. This trend signals intensifying global competition for AI talent as countries race to build their artificial intelligence capabilities and workforce pipelines.

What you should know: MBZUAI’s internship program has become a significant recruitment pipeline, drawing applications from top US computer science programs.

• Nearly 2,000 students applied for 57 internship slots—almost double the previous year’s applications—from dozens of countries worldwide.
• Participants came from prestigious institutions including Georgia Institute of Technology, University of California, and University of Illinois.
• The majority of interns admitted go on to apply to MBZUAI’s graduate programs after working on projects in healthcare, language processing, and robotics, according to Timothy Baldwin, the university’s provost and professor of natural language processing.

How the university works: MBZUAI offers comprehensive AI education with full government backing, targeting both academic excellence and economic development.

• The six-year-old university provides Masters and PhD degrees in specialized AI fields like computer vision and machine learning, with its first undergraduate class starting this fall.
• The UAE government grants full scholarships to all students but retains ownership of any intellectual property developed on campus.
• Rather than producing “legions of academics,” the university’s goal is creating an AI talent pipeline for the local economy in sectors like energy, healthcare, and government, according to its president.

Why students are choosing Abu Dhabi: The university’s growing appeal stems from strategic outreach and the UAE’s reputation as an AI innovation hub.

• AI is a field driven almost entirely by continuous research and development, Baldwin explained, attributing the university’s success to direct engagement with top schools and referrals from faculty and alumni.
• Students are increasingly curious about Abu Dhabi’s reputation as an early adopter of AI technology, making it an attractive destination for cutting-edge research opportunities.

The bigger picture: This development reflects broader geopolitical competition in AI talent acquisition and technological leadership.

• The university’s president, Eric Xing, is a computer scientist who previously taught at Stanford and Carnegie Mellon, representing the caliber of expertise the UAE is attracting to build its AI ecosystem.
• Recent discussions have centered on US-UAE AI partnerships and strategies to counter Chinese influence in the region, including proposals for building data centers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.