Saudi AI firm Humain talks up ambition to create ‘culturally relevent’ models for Arabic world

Creating AI models that can generate culturally authentic video and text for Arabic speakers and Muslims worldwide is vital, according to a senior executive from the recently launched Saudi Arabian artificial intelligence company Humain.

Wholly owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Humain was launched in May by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to develop advanced Arabic-language models, as well as data centres and AI infrastructure.

Speaking at Saudi Film Confex this week, Steve Plimsoll, chief strategy officer and acting CMO of Humain, said the biggest priority for the company is to become a culturally relevant as well as a historically and religiously accurate AI tool for Saudi Arabia, the Middle East region and Arabic speakers worldwide.

Asked how Humain will help Arabic filmmakers and storytellers, Holmes said global AI models often delivered results that lacked the right nuance or were not culturally correct for local audiences.

“It’s almost a national sport to call out images from the Kingdom and from the region where someone isn’t quite wearing their Shemagh [the red and white headscarf worn by men] in the right way because the AI hasn’t done it properly,” noted Holmes.

“We’ve got to make sure we have we have Arabic first models that really work, not just within the Kingdom where we have multiple dialects and multiple different dresses but around the region in everything that we do, whether that is Yemen, Saudi, Egypt, the UAE or Qatar. How do we then take those models and make sure they can empower the 400 million Arabic speakers around the world or the two billion Muslims that are all looking for content that’s relevant to them.”

Humain recently worked with the Saudi Broadcasting Authority to create a fully AI-generated film to mark the country’s National Day, held annually on September 23.

Plimsoll was joined on a panel at film business event Saudi Film Confex, which is taking place this week in Riyadh, by Amazon MGM Studios director of international originals production and post John Holmes.

Acknowledging AI is a “scary topic” in the creative community, Holmes suggested Hollywood studios need to educate the creative community on the benefits of the technology.

“It is our job as a studio to try to educate people on the benefits of these tools. These are tools that an editor or assistant editor can use to enhance and speed up their delivery of the show.”

He noted AI is the latest in a series of major technology changes in the post-production landscape, citing the move from film to digital.

Asked if editors should fear the impact of AI on their jobs, Holmes said: “The editors today are concerned their jobs would be eliminated. But we believe that AI’s just an added tool to assist them to go faster…We believe that it’s an additive value.”

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