Dubai Media Academy Wins Arab Media AI Award at Cairo ICT for Arabic-Language Initiative

The academy's director, Mona Bousamra, accepted the award from Raafat Abdel Aziz Hindy, Egypt's Minister of Communications and Information Technology. The 30th edition of the technology exhibition and conference is being held at the Egypt International Exhibition Center in New Cairo from November 7 to 10 under the theme "AI in Action".

The initiative, branded "عi", is an attempt by an Arab media body to shape the AI systems that will produce and distribute its content, rather than rely on models built mostly elsewhere. According to WAM, it grew out of workshops the academy held last year, which found a shortage of tools able to deal with the Arabic language and its cultural depth. It aims to bring together media organisations, technology companies, developers, universities and research centres to tackle the under-representation of Arabic dialects, supply reliable Arabic training data and encourage media applications that can make money.

Bousamra said Arab media must move from using new technologies to helping develop them, in ways that strengthen Arabic and its dialects, support trustworthy content and open up new business models. She also called for investment in skills and training.

Osama Kamal, president of Cairo ICT, said the first round of the event's honours went to bodies and initiatives with strategic or economic impact on the region. He described the Dubai initiative as a model of what the region needs, citing its focus on Arabic language and identity and its work with regional programmers and companies on commercially viable media products.

The academy also ran a three-session media and AI track at the conference. Bousamra was the keynote speaker in the opening session, on how AI is rewriting the economics of media, alongside former Egyptian minister of state for administrative development Ahmed Darwish, Al Qahera News general manager Samir Omar and Akhbar El Yom chairman Islam Afifi. Speakers named the scarcity of specialised Arabic data, and the need for tools suited to the language's dialects and cultural identity, as the main obstacles for Arab media adopting AI.