UAE-Israel to develop app to understand Arabic language and its dialects: official

Israel-UAE are developing an advanced application that involves artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to understand Arabic language and its dialects. The app will benefit the entire Middle East region, a senior Israeli official told the Emirates News Agency (WAM).

“We realised that there is no Hebrew and Arabic Natural Language Processing (NLP) that is essential to give AI-based services to our citizens speaking these languages. Therefore, we are investing a lot in Hebrew and Arabic NLP,” said Dror Bin, the CEO of Israel’s Innovation Authority (IIA), who was on an official visit to the UAE.

NLP is a subfield of linguistics, computer science, and AI and helps machines process and understand human language so that they can automatically perform repetitive tasks. Everyday examples include machine translation, automatic summarisation, automatic spelling correction, and voice-controlled personal assistants on smartphones.

Arabic, Hebrew NLP crucial for AI deployment

In an exclusive interview with WAM in Abu Dhabi, Bin said he was happy to hear about the ongoing efforts in the UAE on Arabic NLP and looking forward to the possible bilateral cooperation that will benefit both countries and other Arabic-speaking countries as well.

As accessing large data and learning from them is a vital function of AI, NLP in Arabic and Hebrew is very crucial for Arab countries and Israel to utilise AI that is gradually being deployed in almost all walks of life, the CEO noted.

NLP in Arabic and Hebrew will also help people chat with an AI device in these 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 relevant in the wake of recent developments in the UAE.

Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) in Abu Dhabi and New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) organised the “2022 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP)” from December 7-11 in the capital.

World-renowned experts addressed 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 language. For the first time in its history since 1996, the conference was held in the Middle East.

Both MBZUAI and NYUAD have dedicated departments focusing on research in NLP and related areas.

AI to transform agriculture

Asked whether a delay in developing local language NLP will affect the widespread deployment of AI, the chief executive of IIA said, “No. The English NLP already exists. As English is the relevant language in global markets, many start-ups in Israel and elsewhere are already using AI very successfully.”

Bin stressed that “I cannot think of any sector that AI is not going to disrupt and change fundamentally.”

He pointed out that in many countries, including Israel, there is a lack of drivers in the market. As employers are finding it difficult to find people for many other jobs as well, AI will solve that problem, the CEO said.