It is often assumed that the future is Western – or at least English-speaking – in this era of technology, development, and science fiction turned true.
When it comes to technology, especially AI, which depends so much on a superhuman vocabulary, it’s a given that they’d grasp English. What’s the purpose if you can’t get your AI art program to sketch Spongebob Squarepants performing the default Fortnite dance in the manner of Impressionist painter Alfred Sisley?
However, such a significant prejudice in language causes biases elsewhere. Consider asking an AI to find a picture of Cairo, but the only images it finds are the limited Orientalist perspective frequently provided to Western visitors and journalists.
While we are still a long way from AI that encompasses all viewpoints from across the world, a new app is making AI art more accessible to non-English audiences. Piasso is an AI-powered picture generating tool that not only understands Arabic, but also how it is written. In other words, you may either enter your prompt in conventional Arabic or write in Franco-Arabic (using your English-language keyboard to approximate Arabic terms) and the software will translate it to regular Arabic automatically.
“Piasso was created because I think the world is on the verge of an AI revolution that will affect practically every area of our lives over the next decade. I learned a lot about AI by utilizing programs like MidJourney and Dall-E, which are only accessible in English “Piasso’s inventor, Ahmed Soliman, says CairoScene. “That is why I am determined to make comparable tools accessible in Arabic in order to inspire the next generation of Arab artists, inventors, and AI researchers.”
“The ability of our software to read and translate English-script Arabic into correct Arabic demonstrates our dedication to make our technology accessible and straightforward for all users,” he says. “This function enables users to convey their ideas and thoughts quickly and correctly, regardless of language level.”
With applications like these, the path to Arab engagement in AI – and, ultimately, Arab voices articulated via AI – becomes more open.