MBZUAI Receives $1M from Google.org for MENA AI Research

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀: “𝗔𝗜 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝗹”? In South Korea, it’s not a slogan. It’s a blueprint. In November 2025, the South Korean Ministry of Education launched an “AI for All” initiative: a nationwide plan to build AI skills across a lifetime (ie., from schoolchildren to working adults). At its core is an “AI innovation talent pipeline” that connects specialised high schools to universities and postgraduate programmes. - AI‑focused secondary schools are being expanded. - New AI‑specific university admissions tracks are being created. - Fast‑track degrees will let top students go from bachelor’s to PhD in 5.5 years instead of the usual eight. - Foundational AI courses will reach all university students, regardless of major, while adults can upskill via cyber universities and industry‑linked programmes. That is what “AI for all” looks like when a country builds AI talent at every stage of education and work. Africa is not there yet, and that’s okay. Every system starts from somewhere. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺𝘀, 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁‑𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻, 𝘁𝗿𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁. We don’t have to copy South Korea. But we do have to move. If you’re an educator, policymaker, or student in Africa, here’s the real question: 𝙉𝙤𝙩 “𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣’𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙚𝙩?” 𝘽𝙪𝙩 “𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝘼𝙄 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙡, 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚, 𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙞𝙡𝙤𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧?” Our AI journey on the continent won’t begin with a headline. It will begin with a willingness to learn and experiment. What’s one small AI experiment you’d be willing to try in your institution? #GradePointAI #EdTech #AIforAll #AIinEducation

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐘 𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄. 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐎𝐍 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐘. Everyone talks about the digital divide. 📍 Devices 📍 Connectivity 📍 Internet access But the next divide is more subtle. AI literacy. In many developing nations, families now have smartphones and internet access. But understanding how AI works? That’s a different story. Research from Indonesia shows something fascinating. Even when technology is available, parents often feel conceptual confusion about AI. 🔻 What it does 🔻 How it learns 🔻 Whether it can be trusted Add cultural concerns. 🔻 Will AI reduce human interaction? 🔻 Will it erase local identity? 🔻 Will Western systems dominate global narratives? 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥. 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐈 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐖𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚. Which means many global users encounter something strange. The smartest tool in the world… Sometimes doesn’t recognize their world. So families begin pushing back. A Filipino family asks their voice assistant to speak Tagalog to preserve heritage language. A Korean teenager corrects an AI that keeps recommending “Western music” instead of K-pop. These small moments reveal something bigger. AI literacy in the Global South won’t just be about access. It will be about forcing technology to see cultures it was not trained to recognize. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: ➡️ 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐈 ➡️ 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐭 #AI #AILiteracy #DigitalDivide #Education #GlobalSouth #Technology #FutureOfLearning #ArtificialIntelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming a part of our everyday lives — from how we learn and work, to how we solve problems and make decisions. That is why we must strengthen efforts to help our children and youths prepare for a future shaped by technology. Through MENDAKI Singapore, we will enhance programmes so that children, students and youths have more opportunities to explore AI tools and build confidence in using them. These early exposures matter because they help young people better understand how technology is shaping the world around us. By strengthening AI readiness, we open doors to wider career pathways and help our youths seize opportunities in growing industries. Our aim is simple — to ensure that every child and youth in our community is supported to learn, grow and keep pace with a changing world. When we strengthen the future of our children and youths, we strengthen our community and help build a stronger shared future for Singapore.

TheMONdaily Jérôme Ribeiro: Transforming Artificial Intelligence with Kindness and Humanity In a world racing to accelerate artificial intelligence, few leaders pause to ask a deeper question: 👉 How can AI truly serve humanity? Jérôme Ribeiro is not just advancing AI — he is redefining its purpose. With a strong foundation in telecommunications and information systems, Jérôme has transformed his technical expertise into a mission grounded in ethics, accessibility, and social responsibility. As President of Opale and leader within climate and circular economy initiatives, he champions accountability in AI development — ensuring innovation aligns with sustainability and long-term human value. But perhaps his most transformative contribution is Human AI. In 2022, he inaugurated Africa’s first House of Artificial Intelligence in Oujda — a bold step toward democratizing AI knowledge across the continent. Human AI is not just a tech project. It is an ecosystem. • Innovation hubs across Africa • AI training platforms for youth and educators • Mentorship systems • Tools like the “Genius Game” for personal and professional development His global influence extends further as an ambassador of the World Artificial Intelligence Cannes Festival and Honorary Vice President for AI within Cluster Digital Africa. Jérôme Ribeiro represents a new generation of AI leadership — one where technology is guided by kindness, inclusion, and ethical responsibility. Because the future of AI is not just about algorithms. It is about humanity. Full article here: 🔗 #GratienMukeshimana #28COE #28coeecosystem #TheMonDaily #ArtificialIntelligence

I’m thrilled to be participating in the upcoming #AI for Education Summit in Almaty this April (22-23). The HOPE | Help Others Pursue Education Foundation has brought together some high level speakers and practitioners to evaluate how AI has accelerated in just the first quarter of 2026. It is no accident that this event is happening in Almaty; #Kazakhstan is currently building one of the most ambitious tech and educational ecosystems in Central Asia. 🇰🇿 At a glance: ☑️ 9 Key Tracks: Exploring the AI revolution across classrooms, higher education, and future career paths. ☑️ Critical Focus: Dedicated sessions on trust, data sovereignty and AI Ethics. ☑️ Regional Hub: Seeing firsthand how Kazakhstan is positioning itself as an architect in the global educational and AI agenda. Looking forward to networking with fellow practitioners. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/eVmzE-hn Yermek Mazhitov Sayasat Nurbek Jim Knight Sally Axworthy Sarah Chidgey Madina Bakirova Adel Kussidenova The British-Kazakh Society #AI #EdTech #Kazakhstan #AIforEducation #FutureOfWork #AIEthics

🗞 IN THE NEWS 🗞 Google.org, the philanthropic arm of American tech giant Google, has granted US$1 million to Dr. Thamar Solorio Vice Provost of Faculty Excellence and Advancement and Professor of Natural Language Processing at the UAE's MBZUAI (Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence), to lead a research initiative bridging the "data divide" that limits artificial intelligence’s ability to understand and serve speakers of underrepresented languages with the same precision as it does English. In a statement, Dr. Solorio said, “This funding allows us to take our research from an early exploratory phase to a level that can not only redefine the field, but lead to impact in people’s lives. This support is vital because it allows us to move beyond adaptation of high-resource models to linguistically grounded AI for MENA languages, which highlights a much-needed paradigm shift in the field.”  Yossi Matias, Vice President, Google, and Head of Google Research, added, “We are happy to collaborate with MBZUAI, which is deeply rooted in advancing AI research and fostering regional academic talent. By focusing on low-resource languages in large language models, we are progressing on the MENA AI Opportunity Initiative’s commitment to providing access to the most innovative AI technology in Arabic, its dialects and other languages spoken in the region. Funding this research aligns with our goal to accelerate scientific discovery through cooperation that delivers real-world impact.” Learn more about Dr. Solario's research in our full article here: https://lnkd.in/dZVRxfwJ #artificialintelligence #AI #MBZUAI #innovation #investment #UAE #GCC #MiddleEast #MENA #tech #science #research #languages #LLMs #Arabic

Kazakhstan is establishing a specialized Artificial Intelligence University in 2025, announced by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Key facts: • Launch planned for 2025 • 63,000+ students already studying IT in Kazakhstan • AI-Sana program trained 440,000+ students • Goal: Retain tech talent within the country • Modeled after UAE's AI University Strategic significance: This is a direct continuation of the "Digital Kazakhstan" strategy and the declaration of 2026 as the Year of Digitalization and AI. The university will become Central Asia's central hub for AI education. Regional positioning: Kazakhstan aims to become Central Asia's AI hub, building a complete ecosystem: education → research → funding → infrastructure. #Kazakhstan #AI #Education #DigitalTransformation #TechTalent #CentralAsia

RIA IN INDIA | Speaking Everyone’s Language: The Key to Inclusive AI Opportunity 🗣️ Register to join in-person 🖇️ https://bit.ly/4aWB6vN Tomorrow, our Research Director, Dr Kola Ijasan, joins a high-level side event in New Delhi, hosted by the UK Government, with support from members of the AI for Development Funders Collaborative. In this necessary convening with our funders and fellow Global South leaders, we'll discuss a critical point of contention: the urgent need for linguistically diverse AI models. Insights from our data-driven research and policy influence across the continent highlight the deepening inequalities and socio-economic barriers caused by uneven AI deployment, especially in culturally diverse contexts. Through our Africa #JustAI project, and throughout multiple sessions as the India AI Impact summit, we've demonstrated time and again that, in order for AI innovation to be people-centred, rights-respecting and mutually beneficial, representative local AI capacity and awareness are crucial. While Global North models and governance frameworks continue to dominate Global South markets, Africans are routinely faced with bias, discrimination, and a severe lack of locally relevant content, leaving them vulnerable to more harm than opportunity. Linguistically diverse data for AI training and modelling is the first step in ensuring that AI is representative, let alone inclusive. With the African continent alone home to almost 2000 languages, and the wider Global South home to almost 90% of the world's 7000+ languages, AI training and modelling in their current form are unlikely to deliver real value in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In this session, we look forward to the opportunity to regroup, reflect, and reassess the conditions tied to 'inclusive' AI, including access to data, accommodating data governance models, participatory AI deployment, and community-oriented support and sustainable funding for local AI development. UK Government Investments (UKGI) Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Sida Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Community Jameel Gates Foundation Artificial Intelligence for Development (AI4D) #AIGovernance #IndiaAIImpactSummit2026 #PeoplePlanetProgress #DataGovernance #InclusiveAI #AI4D

Shaping the Future of Education with AI Through the AI Opportunity Fund: Asia Pacific, in collaboration with AVPN and support from Google.org and the Asian Development Bank, Bahagian Profesionalisme Guru, Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia is taking a proactive step in strengthening AI literacy within the education ecosystem. This initiative is not just about understanding technology. It is about rethinking how educators lead, adapt, and innovate in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. By equipping education professionals with practical AI knowledge, we are building a stronger foundation for future-ready classrooms across institutions. Partner with us to drive AI readiness at scale. Learn more at ai.pepperlabs.my #AIReadyMalaysia #AVPN #AIForEducators #MalaysiaDigital #DigitalTransformation #PepperLabs

The utilization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) opens new opportunities for lecturers to strengthen both the learning process and research activities. This technology can support various academic tasks, ranging from data collection and research analysis to the development of teaching materials and the exploration of broader and deeper academic ideas. The AI Literacy for Everyone: Understand, Apply, Create. held in collaboration with Universitas Sarjanawiyata Tamansiswa (@ustjogjaofficial) was organized by BASS Training Center & Consultant, featuring @ardiandaffam as the speaker. Through this workshop, lecturers were introduced to practical approaches for utilizing AI in a responsible and ethical manner to support teaching activities, stimulate idea exploration, and enhance research development within the academic environment. This program is part of the AI Opportunity Fund: Asia Pacific, in partnership with AVPN (@avpn_asia) and supported by Google (@google) and the Asian Development Bank (@adb_hq).