A look at The Guardian article examining the rise of the man connecting the UAE’s vast wealth, intelligence apparatus, and the world’s data centers.

#️⃣ Part Two

Project Raven and DarkMatter: The Road to G42

In the late 2000s, the UAE struck a security deal with Richard Clarke, the former U.S. counterterrorism czar, which led to the creation of Project Raven — a secret surveillance unit staffed by former U.S. National Security Agency personnel, Washington contractors, and former White House officials.

What began under the banner of “counterterrorism” evolved into a broad digital surveillance operation targeting Emirati dissidents, human-rights activists, journalists, and political figures around the world.

Control later shifted to DarkMatter, a private Emirati cybersecurity company with close links to the state. Its hacking activities expanded further, reportedly reaching prominent British divorce lawyer Fiona Shackleton, while then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson was also believed to have been a target.

In 2019, a Reuters investigation — building on work by Canada’s Citizen Lab — exposed elements of the operation. Tahnoun subsequently shut down DarkMatter in its existing form and dismantled parts of its corporate structure.

How G42 Was Born: The UAE’s AI Megaproject

Tahnoun then reshaped parts of the ecosystem surrounding DarkMatter into a new company focused on artificial intelligence: G42.

Its name was inspired by The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, in which the number 42 represents “the answer to life, the universe and everything.”

Senior figures with backgrounds linked to the earlier cybersecurity world remained influential. Peng Xiao, previously associated with a DarkMatter unit, became G42’s CEO, while former DarkMatter chief Karim Sabbagh went on to lead a major subsidiary.

One of the company’s earliest controversial episodes involved the messaging app ToTok, which The New York Times later reported was being used as a surveillance tool capable of collecting users’ conversations, movements, relationships, appointments, sounds and images.

G42’s own security-oriented marketing has emphasized capabilities such as “suspect profiling,” “relationship mapping,” and “behavioral analysis.”

Why Does Silicon Valley Find This Project Attractive?

The article argues that, if Silicon Valley is going to partner with a cash-rich Gulf powerbroker, Tahnoun presents an unusually powerful proposition.

He sits at the intersection of a heavily digitized state security apparatus, enormous pools of capital and access to vast quantities of data — the raw material on which modern artificial intelligence depends.

Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman and Elon Musk may be among the most influential figures in AI, but none simultaneously oversees a national intelligence apparatus.

Microsoft has invested $1.5 billion in G42, and its vice chairman and president, Brad Smith, holds a seat on the company’s board. Sam Altman has also publicly described Tahnoun as a “dear personal friend.”

Washington’s Concerns About Abu Dhabi

In 2022, the U.S. National Intelligence Council reportedly produced a classified assessment warning about Abu Dhabi’s “legal and illegal attempts” to influence U.S. foreign policy.

The Biden administration subsequently restricted exports of advanced AI chips to the UAE because of concerns surrounding the country’s close technological and commercial relationships with China.