A media manager has responded to the lack of Emirati culture in the artificial intelligence space by designing custom-built software that accurately represents the UAE's traditional dress, cultural landmarks and Arabic heritage.
Abdulla Alsharhan, creative service manager at Shams Media, spent two years developing “Create with Shams” in Sharjah Media City to accurately demonstrate to his Korean business partners the Emirati culture . It uses 12k images to give far more detail and clarity than similar AI technologies and incorporates the Arabic language and style.
“Our model understands the Arabic traditions, culture, look and feel,” he told The National. “Other AI services can give you quality but you cannot print [it large enough to display on] a building, it's a very small image. We can create a 12K image where we can print it over two buildings, not only one.”
One example of the AI being used in the UAE is with Al Fayy Restaurant & Cafe for an advert where images generated by the software were made into a video. The printing feature, meanwhile, is useful for advertisers, creatives, and companies who want to use an AI-generated image to promote their brand or product on a physical building.
Why it stands out
The platform supports creatives by providing authentic representations of Emirati culture and UAE attractions when suitable images are unavailable online.
“Other AI services can't create the Emirati outfit and our attractions well, and they don't understand the Arabic phrases written in English. Ours does all of that,” Mr Alsharhan added. “The AI will draw a unique image of a person wearing the kandura, for example. It knows the exact details.”
To ensure the product's viability, he worked with 1,700 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to test it. The platform also includes blocking measures to ensure it remains child-friendly, preventing users from creating inappropriate images.
When The National went down to test the software, Mr Alsharhan demonstrated how it can be used to completely change a person's appearance by deleting and replacing parts of the image based on a prompt.
He started by taking some photos of Andy, our multimedia producer, and then instructed the AI platform to turn him into Elvis Presley. The end result was a high-quality photo of Andy, indeed, as Elvis Presley.
Another feature of the AI is that it can replace the background of any object by isolating it against another background. This process saves time from creating the image from scratch on photo-editing applications.
Can you create your own personalised AI model?
If someone wanted to create their own AI software, Mr Alsharhan advised trying it locally without publishing it online in the beginning to experiment with it. “Developing your own data and collecting your own images can help you recreate whatever is in your imagination as soon as possible,” he said.
“I would always emphasise, even with my employees; make mistakes, because mistakes made me learn how to create my own platform because I had to create something complicated.”
At the moment, people can create their images by visiting Sharjah Media City, but an online version is under way. In the near future, users will also be able to prompt the platform in Arabic.
The UAE Council for Artificial Intelligence aims to advance the country as a world leader in the AI sector by implementing The UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence by 2031.
In 2017, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, appointed Omar Al Olama as Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence. The UAE remains the only country to appoint a minister for AI.
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Director: Ali Abbasi
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Maria Bakalova, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 3/5
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
Match info
Manchester United 1 (Van de Beek 80') Crystal Palace 3 (Townsend 7', Zaha pen 74' & 85')
Man of the match Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace)
Info
What: 11th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship
When: December 27-29, 2018
Confirmed: men: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung, Karen Khachanov; women: Venus Williams
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae, Virgin megastores or call 800 86 823
Remaining Fixtures
Wednesday: West Indies v Scotland
Thursday: UAE v Zimbabwe
Friday: Afghanistan v Ireland
Sunday: Final
The biog
Favourite Emirati dish: Fish machboos
Favourite spice: Cumin
Family: mother, three sisters, three brothers and a two-year-old daughter
Results
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,200m, Winner: ES Rubban, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ibrahim Aseel (trainer)
5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh85,000 (T) 1,200m, Winner: Al Mobher, Sczcepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m, Winner: Jabalini, Tadhg O’Shea, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
6.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m, Winner: AF Abahe, Tadgh O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh85,000 (T) 1,600m, Winner: AF Makerah, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m, Winner: Law Of Peace, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
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Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
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US households add $601bn of debt in 2019
American households borrowed another $601 billion (Dh2.2bn) in 2019, the largest yearly gain since 2007, just before the global financial crisis, according to February data from the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Fuelled by rising mortgage debt as homebuyers continued to take advantage of low interest rates, the increase last year brought total household debt to a record high, surpassing the previous peak reached in 2008 just before the market crash, according to the report.
Following the 22nd straight quarter of growth, American household debt swelled to $14.15 trillion by the end of 2019, the New York Fed said in its quarterly report.
In the final three months of the year, new home loans jumped to their highest volume since the fourth quarter of 2005, while credit cards and auto loans also added to the increase.
The bad debt load is taking its toll on some households, and the New York Fed warned that more and more credit card borrowers — particularly young people — were falling behind on their payments.
"Younger borrowers, who are disproportionately likely to have credit cards and student loans as their primary form of debt, struggle more than others with on-time repayment," New York Fed researchers said.
