The deal itself is highly unusual. The commercial partnership is “backed by assurances to the U.S. and UAE governments through a first-of- its-kind binding agreement to apply world-class best practices to ensure the secure, trusted, and responsible development and deployment of AI,” according to Microsoft.

The U.S. and UAE governments appeared to be heavily involved in the deal.

“Both companies will move forward with a commitment to comply with U.S. and international trade, security, responsible AI, and business integrity laws and regulations,” Microsoft said.

“The work on these topics is governed by a detailed Intergovernmental Assurance Agreement between G42 and Microsoft that was developed in close consultation with both the UAE and U.S. governments.”

G42 Chairman Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahya is also the national security advisor of the UAE.

The government’s involvement comes after months of scrutiny on G42 for its links to China. In January, House Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wi., chairman of the U.S. Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, called on the Commerce Department to “closely examine” G42 to see whether it should be included on a trade export blacklist.

Gallagher alleges that G42 maintains relationship with blacklisted Chinese firms, such as Huawei, and that it works with China’s military and intelligence services.

In January, G42 “categorically” denied the allegations.

“In the field of advanced technologies, we have pursued a commercial strategy since 2022 to fully align with our U.S. partners and not to engage with Chinese companies,” the company said at the time.