GITEX Global: AI Is Rebuilding Trust, Ending Hunger & Driving Growth

Over 6,800 companies from 180 countries attended the Gitex Global event, held at the World Trade Center Dubai from October 13 to 17, 2025. On the artificial intelligence (AI) stage, I moderated discussions on the impact of real-world AI applications that went beyond being just another productivity tool.

Forget about the hype. AI is maturing, and the question being asked is no longer ‘What can I do with it?’ As audiences continue to think bigger, they are now asking, ‘What should I do with it?’

Key Takeaways

• GITEX GLOBAL is the world's largest tech event with over 200,000 attendees.

• The UN World Food Program (WFP) is using AI to predict famine, optimize delivery systems, and speed up deliveries of food aid.

• AI-based verification tools detect misinformation and rebuild digital trust.

• Serbia's AI-first education and infrastructure strategy is behind a 10x growth for the country.

How AI Is Confronting the Global Misinformation Crisis

The World Economic Forum lists misinformation as the world's top global risk. It has surpassed climate change and geopolitical conflict, with estimated costs of more than a trillion dollars a year in scams, reputational damage, and poor decision-making.

When I sat down with Dennis Yap, CEO of AI Seer, to prepare for our session, "The AI Misinformation Feedback Loop," we discussed how technology could help separate truth from fiction. Especially, when for every two truths in an online post, there is often one lie thrown in to manipulate audiences.

On the AI stage, I played a short video clip filled with medical claims about "metabolic therapy" as a cure for cancer. Some of it sounded credible, even scientific. I asked Dennis to demonstrate how AI could analyze the video.

The tool quickly identified over one hundred claims in the video, mapped them to several data sources, and coded them as true, false, or untested. It also highlighted which portions of the footage corresponded to peer-reviewed information and which were based on anecdote or speculation.

Dennis calls it "atomic fact-checking," and it scales the reliability of each source by measuring factors like bias, frequency of citation, and historical accuracy.

A Chrome extension enables users to paste any social link and instantly access a credibility map of the content. Unlike X's Community Notes, the AI system prioritizes evidence over the consensus of other users. This takes on one of the most insidious aspects of misinformation: that it mixes truth and lies.

Yap explained: 

"The human brain is attracted to the familiar. When something starts with facts, our defenses go down. That's why misinformation works. It's a game of two truths and a lie."

The problems presented by a reliance on AI also raise the question of who defines truth and what happens when governments or corporations misuse fact-checkers to control the narrative.

Dennis recognized these challenges, but emphasized that the answer is transparency:

"The machine has to tell how it gets to its conclusions. If people see how the AI came to its conclusions, trust will follow."

Feeding the World With Algorithms: The UN's AI Blueprint for Ending Hunger

During his session on the GITEX AI stage, Magan Naidoo, Chief Data Officer, United Nations World Food Program, shared how AI is helping to improve food security. Leading the program, Naidoo is developing a global strategy to use artificial intelligence and data analytics to predict hunger, move food faster in aid programs, and optimize the use of resources in over 80 countries.

When we spoke after his session on the AI stage, the first comment he made was simple but powerful: "There is no AI without data." 

Over the past 12 months, the WFP has developed a data governance framework that provides a platform for collecting and processing humanitarian data ethically, securely, and consistently across all operations.

Naidoo said: 

"It is about speed and accuracy. AI can discover patterns that humans would not or it would take months for them to discover. This means we can allocate aid where it is needed quicker than ever before."

AI also enables the WFP logistics department's activity, which involves managing one of the world's largest supply systems. Predictive algorithms are enabling the WFP department to move in supplies more efficiently and reduce food spoilage. 

Seconds saved or dollars saved imply directly lives sustained. But Naidoo was careful to explain that technology alone is not enough.

He commented: 

"We are very conscious of ethics. People trust us with their personal data, often in the worst periods of their lives. That is sacrosanct."

The WFP implements stringent privacy measures to prevent sensitive data from being accessed outside its protected environments. Human intervention is a prerequisite for all AI-powered decisions.

In countries with underutilized natural resources, AI is emerging as an unseen agent that reinforces human agency, thereby unlocking further potential.

Magan Naidoo also looked at WFP partnerships with universities, the private sector, and other UN agencies. Microsoft and others are helping with its cloud and AI project. Universities are providing expertise in data science through postgraduate courses. 

"This is not a competition," he said. "This is a common cause. Hunger is solvable if we work together."

How Education & Infrastructure Are Reshaping Serbia's Economy

The last and contrasting story presented on the AI stage was by Marko Čadež, the President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, about how AI and education are enabling this small country to leverage AI as a strategic asset.

Learning to code is mandatory in Serbia's education, and it's the investment in this next generation that has helped transform its economy, with information and communication technology (ICT) exports multiplying tenfold in the past few years. The industry has become a case study of how coordinated policy, infrastructure, and entrepreneurship can converge around AI as the engine of growth.

The government has promoted this momentum through significant investment in AI supercomputing infrastructure and research centers. These provide the necessary backbone for startups and universities alike to build and test AI applications without dependence on foreign suppliers of cloud-based computing systems.

Serbia's advances have been such that GITEX announced that it would hold a European edition in Belgrade starting in 2027. The venue, a vast Serbian institution center, is said to be the most advanced in Europe.

Čadež said: 

"We are not just hosting a conference. We are hosting an industry that is to come."

Serbia has demonstrated that, with the right AI strategy, smaller economies can establish a niche in the global technology market by leveraging education, accessibility, and ecosystem design. 

But the message was that AI is no longer about the rivalry of companies, but the collaboration of nations.

From Hype to Humanity: The New Face of Artificial Intelligence

Across these three stories, a clear pattern emerges. The center of gravity in AI is moving from speculative hype to profound, measurable impact. 

• Dennis Yap is using it to regain the digital trust. 

• Magan Naidoo is using it to supply food and hope.

• Marko Čadež is using it to create prosperity and national pride.

Each has a different aspect of the same truth. The next phase of AI will not be determined by who has the bigger model or the most powerful GPU, but rather by who is using their AI with the most intelligence.

All these processes are raising instant ethical and social issues. Where AI tools can shape perceptions, manage charity, and determine the future of an economy, government, and transparency becomes imperative. 

The successful innovators will be those who consider AI a civil duty no less than a commercial benefit.

When the lights went out on the AI stage in Exhibition Hall No. 10 and the last sessions were over, it was apparent that GITEX 2025 was a transitional phase for the show. AI is no longer an experiment. It is a part of the infrastructure of the future of trust, welfare, and growth.

Will other major technology trade fairs continue to focus on smart houses, large TV sets, and unusual devices, or will they rise to the challenge of discussing the use of AI in solving global problems rather than creating more issues? We can but hope.

The Bottom Line

Next year will be the proving ground for whether governments and companies can take on this spirit. Are they capable of building AI systems that inform rather than deceive, that feed the hunger but do not exploit it, and that empower rather than replace?

If what was seen in Dubai this week is any indication, the process of transformation has already begun. The question is no longer whether AI can change the world, but whether humanity can keep pace with its opportunities. 

FAQs

1. What were the key AI innovations highlighted at GITEX Global 2025?

AI solutions showcased at GITEX focused on combating misinformation, improving food distribution through predictive analytics, and driving national growth with education and infrastructure investments.

2. How is the UN World Food Program using AI to fight hunger?

The WFP uses AI to predict famine, optimize food delivery routes, and manage resources more efficiently – ensuring faster, fairer, and more ethical food aid distribution across 80+ countries.

3. How is Serbia leveraging AI for economic growth?

By making coding education mandatory and investing in AI supercomputing infrastructure, Serbia has grown its ICT exports tenfold and positioned itself as a rising AI hub in Europe.