Sheikh Tahnoon: the most powerful man you’ve never heard of
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Sheikh Tahnoon: the most powerful man you’ve never heard of

B2Upper-intermediateNovember 3, 202643 min

The UAE’s spymaster is also one of the richest financiers on the planet. Now he has his sights on AI dominance. Jack Shenker explores the sheikh’s shadowy world. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

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Today, the most powerful man you've never heard of.

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B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 25%A2 33%B1 26%B2 12%C1 3%
  • 85% of the words are B1 or easier.
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  • 248 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:00

This is The Guardian. Today, the most powerful man you've never heard of. Before we start, just a warning that this episode contains references to suicidal thoughts and torture.

0:30

When we think about the world's most powerful people, a few names would inevitably spring to mind. We have more munitions than we could ever possibly even think of. Trump.

0:42

Slava, naruto, puede, dijica. Putin. Maybe some of the tech bros, Elon Musk or Sam Altman. I think AI will probably lead to the end of the world.

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