AI Hub to add $71b to KSA GDP; MBZUAI open-sources Hindi LLM
Middle East AI News weekly digest...
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The Future Investment Initiative’s annual forum FII8 is taking place this week and so one of the week’s biggest stories was announced there yesterday - an agreement between PIF and Google to build an AI Hub with R&D and training capabilities on Saudi Arabia’s east coast, aiming to add $71 billion to the country’s GDP!
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FII8
New AI hub could add $71 billion to Saudi GDP
#Saudi #FII8 - Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has signed a strategic partnership with Google Cloud to establish a new AI Hub near Dammam. The initiative is expected to create thousands of jobs and add $71 billion to Saudi Arabia's GDP by 2032. Among other activities, the hub will enhance Arabic language capabilities in Google’s Gemini AI model. (PIF)
Saudi Arabia's FII launches Ocean Central for marine health
#Saudi #FII8 - The Future Investment Initiative in Saudi Arabia has introduced Ocean Central, a digital platform to monitor marine health and aid in global ocean regeneration. The platform is being developed in partnership with the marine NGO WAVE. (Arab News)
Saudi Aramco develops 300-350 AI use cases
#SaudiArabia #FII8 - Saudi Aramco CEO Amin H. Nasser announced at the Future Investment Initiative that the company is developing between 300 and 350 AI use cases. These projects are part of Aramco’s strategy to leverage AI for cost savings and to lower the company's carbon footprint. (LinkedIn)
LLMs
MBZUAI launches CAMEL-Bench for evaluating Arabic LMMs
#UAE #LLMs - A research team at Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) unveiled CAMEL-Bench, the most extensive benchmark for Arabic language multimodal AI models. The benchmark includes a live leaderboard on Hugging Face, assessing LMM performance across tasks like OCR, medical imaging, and remote sensing. (Middle East AI News)
MBZUAI Open-Sources Hindi LLM NANDA
#UAE #LLMs - Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) has open-sourced NANDA, a Hindi large language model. Developed in collaboration with G42’s applied research arm Inception and AI infrastructure company Cerebras Systems, the model enables over half a billion Hindi speakers to use generative AI in their native language. (Middle East AI News)
Investment
Wa'ed Ventures Commits $100 Million to AI Startups
#SaudiArabia #venturecapital - Aramco’s Wa'ed Ventures has allocated $100 million for investment in AI startups. Announced at the Aramco Open Investment Day, the funding aligns with the fund’s existing investment goals and Saudi Arabia’s AI leadership ambitions. (Zawya)
Deloitte invests $30 million in Egypt’s tech ecosystem
#Egypt #innovation - Deloitte has inaugurated its Cairo Innovation Hub with a $30 million investment, aiming to create 5,000 jobs over three years. Egypt’s Minister of Communications and IT, Amr Talat, attended the inauguration. (Zawya)
World AI Summit
World Summit AI comes to Qatar in December
#Qatar #events - The World Summit AI will draw thousands of AI professionals, investors, and policymakers to Doha on December 10-11. Backed by the Ministry of CIT, the summit will feature over 100 speakers. Middle East AI News is a Community Partner of the World Ai Summit - Qatar (The Peninsula)
Education
ATRC introduces Python coding programme for schools
#UAE #edtech - The Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC) has equipped 22 Abu Dhabi schools with ImagiCharm devices to teach coding and creativity. The initiative will reach 1,000 students and 40 teachers, integrating Python into the 2024-25 academic year. (Zawya)
SDAIA launches AI program to train 500 specialists
#SaudiArabia #training- The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) has launched a five-week program to train 500 specialists in AI. The comprehensive training focuses on the latest AI technologies. (Arab News)
Huawei & UH2C launch Digital Skills Centre in Casablanca
#Morocco #training - Huawei and Hassan II University of Casablanca have introduced Code 212, a digital skills center aimed at training Morocco’s future tech leaders. This hybrid platform offers training in high-demand fields such as AI, Cloud computing, big data, and IoT. (Morocco World News)
Telecom
e& partners to build Autonomous Networks
#UAE #5G - e& has signed an MoU with Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, and Intel to build autonomous mobile networks, with backing from TM Forum’s global alliance. The initiative aims for Level 4 network autonomy by 2030, utilizing AI to create seamless, self-optimising 5G networks. (Zawya)
Competitions
Roshn launches Hackathon 24 for proptech
#SaudiArabia #proptech - Saudi PIF-backed real estate group ROSHN has announced Hackathon 24, a major IT competition for proptech startups and developers across the Middle East. The hackathon will be held in conjunction with Cityscape Global in Riyadh this November. (SPA)
Digital Transformation
SDAIA & Health Ministry sign data management MoU
#SaudiArabia #datamanagement - SDAIA (Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority) and the Ministry of Health have signed an agreement to enhance data management within the health sector. The partnership will deepen collaboration on national data management. (SPA)
Dubai Police forms Digital Transformation & AI Council
#UAE #DigitalTransformation - Dubai Police has established its own Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence Council to accelerate digital transformation initiatives. Lieutenant General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, will oversee the council. (WAM)
AI Policy
Morocco appoints new Minister of Digital Transition
#Morocco #policymaking - Following a government reshuffle, Amal El Fallah Seghrouchni has been appointed Morocco’s Minister of Digital Transition. Seghrouchni also leads the International Center of AI at University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P). (Morocco World News)
[ This newsletter was AI edited & human edited ]