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Potential cooperation between Israel and the UAE in developing advanced applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to understand the Arabic language and its dialects will benefit the entire Middle East region, a senior Israeli official told Emirates News Agency (WAM).
“We realized that without Hebrew and Arabic natural language processing (NLP) is essential to provide AI-based services to our citizens who speak these languages. There is a lot of money invested in NLP,” said Dror Bin, CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA), who is on an official visit to the UAE.
NLP is a subfield of linguistics, computer science, and artificial intelligence that helps machines process and understand human language to automate repetitive tasks. Everyday examples include machine translation, automatic summarization, automatic spelling correction, and voice-controlled personal assistants on smartphones.
Arabic, Hebrew NLP critical to AI deployment
In an exclusive interview with WAM in Abu Dhabi, Bin said he was pleased to hear about the UAE’s ongoing efforts in Arabic NLP and looked forward to possible bilateral collaborations that would benefit both countries and other Arabic-speaking countries.
The CEO noted that since accessing and learning from big data is an important function of AI, NLP in Arabic and Hebrew is important for Arab countries and Israel to take advantage of the AI ​​that is gradually being deployed in almost every industry.
NLP in Arabic and Hebrew will also help people chat with AI devices in those languages, Bin said.
“There is a lot of room for more cooperation with the UAE in this area,” he affirmed.
UAE’s efforts in Arabic NLP
Bin’s comments are closely related to recent developments in the UAE.
The Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in Abu Dhabi (MBZUAI) and New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) hosted the Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP) Conference 2022 in the capital from December 7-11.
World-renowned experts spoke at the conference on topics such as Arabic NLP, NLP applications in healthcare and financial technology, and how AI can be used to improve the way machines process Arabic. The conference was held in the Middle East for the first time since 1996.
Both MBZUAI and NYUAD have dedicated departments focusing on research in NLP and related fields.
AI transforms agriculture
Asked whether the delay in developing NLP in vernacular languages ​​would affect the widespread deployment of AI, the IIA CEO said: “No. English NLP already exists. Since English is the relevant language in the global market, many startups in Israel and elsewhere AI has been used very successfully.”
“I can’t think of any industry that won’t be disrupted and fundamentally changed by AI,” Bin emphasized.
One lesser-known industry is agriculture, “because AI is going to change the way we grow plants and everything else in the industry,” the CEO predicted.
Israel, for example, is building a “sandbox” for experiments in the agricultural sector, he added. Its sensors check soil health, moisture levels and the presence of parasites, all while constantly collecting data in the field. NLP-based AI will learn from the data and provide advice to farmers on how to prevent crop diseases. This will help improve crop yields and tell farmers when to irrigate and wait for rain, Bin explained.
The CEO emphasized that Israel-UAE cooperation on such agricultural technologies for food security has great potential.
AI creates new jobs
When asked about concerns that AI deployment could lead to job losses versus the opposing view that AI would create potential new jobs, Bin said: “I take the second view. In fact, some jobs will be eliminated, but many others will be created. jobs.”
He pointed out that this is not the first time humans have experienced technological change. When the automobile was invented, buggy riders lost their jobs, but many new jobs were created. This is the same for any technology, Bin added.
“This is the very definition of disruptive technology. It’s changing the way we live and work.”
The chief executive suggested that jobs that are inherently monotonous would be phased out as they could be replaced by machines. “On the other hand, there will be a lot of more creative, higher-value jobs being created.”
Asked for examples of such new jobs, the CEO said trained control room personnel must monitor and control artificial intelligence-powered driverless vehicles when problems arise. “Of course, you need professionals and companies to develop AI programs to build self-driving cars. It’s almost like science fiction; there will be more jobs like this.”
He noted that in many countries, including Israel, there is a lack of drive in the market. As employers find it difficult to find people who are also employed in many other jobs, artificial intelligence will solve this problem, the CEO said.
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