Closing the skills gap: Equipping Kuwaiti youth to drive innovation and thrive in AI-powered era
The society not only aims to enhance the understanding of AI and its applications among Kuwaiti professionals but also supports the responsible development of highly innovative AI solutions that will positively impact society. Similarly, the Central Agency for Information Technology, which has long been at the forefront of empowering professionals across Kuwait's public and private sectors, launched the Center of Excellence for Digital Productivity to help build up the skills of government employees in effectively utilizing the latest technologies including AI to enhance their productivity and drive growth across their respective organizations. Guided by the government's vision of adopting AI to help achieve a better future for all, various educational institutions across Kuwait have also established departments and programs that familiarize students with AI technologies and how to work alongside them as they start their careers. And, as part of its efforts to empower students to create innovative solutions that tackle global challenges, the Kuwait Ministry of Education partnered with Microsoft and the Sabah Al-Ahmad Center for Giftedness and Creativity to launch the Microsoft Imagine Cup Junior competition in Kuwait. For the first time ever, the competition introduced a special lesson around Generative AI for students aged 13-18 years to help them enhance their understanding of the latest AI applications. Events such as these play a pivotal role in preparing bright young minds to enter a workforce that has placed significant emphasis on professionals having the necessary skills to leverage AI efficiently and effectively.
In fact, Microsoft's 2025 Work Trend Index report showcases a clear preference among employers for talent that is proficient in using the latest AI tools: 78% of business leaders are considering hiring for AI-specific roles to prepare for the future; top roles under consideration include AI trainers, data specialists, security specialists, AI agent specialists, ROI analysts, and AI strategists in marketing, finance, customer support, and consulting. In addition, 83% of business leaders believed that AI would enable their employees to take on more complex and strategic work earlier in their careers. Observations such as these highlight the massive opportunity that is present for young Kuwaiti students who are working to build up their AI expertise before they enter the workforce, and for professionals already in the workforce who are looking to skill up in AI. At Microsoft, we are committed to supporting such individuals across all industries through our comprehensive range of AI skilling initiatives and programs that are designed to help them stay ahead of the emerging skills gap and thrive in Kuwait's rapidly evolving digital landscape.
As part of our mission to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more, we also collaborate regularly with leading institutions to empower students as well as public and private sector professionals through specialized workshops and training programs that help build their AI aptitude. Just recently, we entered into a strategic partnership agreement with Kuwait Government with the intent to establish an AI powered Azure Region to advance local AI capabilities, drive economic growth, and foster AI innovation across industries in Kuwait. This strengthened partnership will see us collaborate on a Cloud Center of Excellence that provides guidance and best practices for cloud adoption, as well as a Copilot Center of Excellence which will empower professionals to harness the numerous benefits of Microsoft 365 Copilot including enhanced efficiency, significant time savings, and increased productivity. By helping foster a culture of continuous learning and innovation, we will continue to support efforts to accelerate Kuwait's digital transformation and ensure a pool of world class talent that will shape the future of the country's dynamic AI ecosystem.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab Times
an hour ago
- Arab Times
Love At Home: More Kuwaitis Marrying Fellow Citizens
KUWAIT CITY, July 2: Kuwait has witnessed a noticeable shift in marriage trends during the first five months of 2025, with a significant decline in marriages between Kuwaiti men and non-Kuwaiti women, while unions between Kuwaiti citizens have seen a modest rise. According to official statistics, marriages between Kuwaiti men and expat women dropped by approximately 21% compared to the same period in 2024. A total of 236 such marriages were recorded this year, down from 297. In contrast, marriage contracts between Kuwaiti men and Kuwaiti women increased by 3%, rising to 2,101 from 2,046 during the same timeframe. The breakdown of cross-national marriages shows a decline across most categories. Marriages with Gulf women decreased to 75 cases from 96 last year. Marriages with women of unspecified nationality dropped to 33, down from 51. Kuwaiti marriages to Asian women halved, falling to 16 from 36, while those with European women dropped to six, down from ten. Only one marriage was recorded between a Kuwaiti man and an American woman in 2025, compared to four in 2024. However, not all international pairings declined. Marriages with Syrian, Iraqi, and Lebanese women saw increases. Kuwaiti-Syrian marriages rose to 25 from 17; those with Iraqi women increased to 18 from 16; and marriages to Lebanese women grew from 8 to 12. Meanwhile, marriage numbers remained steady for some nationalities. Kuwaiti men entered into 12 marriages with Jordanian women—the same as last year—and 9 with Egyptian women, unchanged from 2024. Summary of Marriage Statistics: January–May 2025 vs. 2024 Gulf women: 75 (↓ from 96) Unspecified nationality: 33 (↓ from 51) Asian women: 16 (↓ from 36) European women: 6 (↓ from 10) American women: 1 (↓ from 4) Syrian women: 25 (↑ from 17) Iraqi women: 18 (↑ from 16) Lebanese women: 12 (↑ from 8) Jordanian women: 12 (unchanged) Egyptian women: 9 (unchanged) The data highlights a growing preference for marriages within the local citizenry, alongside shifting dynamics in cross-border unions.
Kuwait Times
an hour ago
- Kuwait Times
Do students who use ChatGPT learn less?
PARIS: When Jocelyn Leitzinger had her university students write about times in their lives they had witnessed discrimination, she noticed that a woman named Sally was the victim in many of the stories. 'It was very clear that ChatGPT had decided this is a common woman's name,' said Leitzinger, who teaches an undergraduate class on business and society at the University of Illinois in Chicago. 'They weren't even coming up with their own anecdotal stories about their own lives,' she told AFP. Leitzinger estimated that around half of her 180 students used ChatGPT inappropriately at some point last semester — including when writing about the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI), which she called both 'ironic' and 'mind-boggling'. So she was not surprised by recent research which suggested that students who use ChatGPT to write essays engage in less critical thinking. The preprint study, which has not been peer-reviewed, was shared widely online and clearly struck a chord with some frustrated educators. The team of MIT researchers behind the paper have received more than 3,000 emails from teachers of all stripes since it was published online last month, lead author Nataliya Kosmyna told AFP. For the small study, 54 adult students from the greater Boston area were split into three groups. One group used ChatGPT to write 20-minute essays, one used a search engine, and the final group had to make do with only their brains. The researchers used EEG devices to measure the brain activity of the students, and two teachers marked the essays. The ChatGPT users scored significantly worse than the brain-only group on all levels. The EEG showed that different areas of their brains connected to each other less often. And more than 80 percent of the ChatGPT group could not quote anything from the essay they had just written, compared to around 10 percent of the other two groups. By the third session, the ChatGPT group appeared to be mostly focused on copying and pasting. The teachers said they could easily spot the 'soulless' ChatGPT essays because they had good grammar and structure but lacked creativity, personality and insight. However Kosmyna pushed back against media reports claiming the paper showed that using ChatGPT made people lazier or more stupid. She pointed to the fourth session, when the brain-only group used ChatGPT to write their essay and displayed even higher levels of neural connectivity. Kosmyna emphasized it was too early to draw conclusions from the study's small sample size but called for more research into how AI tools could be used more carefully to help learning. Ashley Juavinett, a neuroscientist at the University of California San Diego who was not involved in the research, criticized some 'offbase' headlines that wrongly extrapolated from the preprint. 'This paper does not contain enough evidence nor the methodological rigour to make any claims about the neural impact of using LLMs (large language models such as ChatGPT) on our brains,' she told AFP. Leitzinger said the research reflected how she had seen student essays change since ChatGPT was released in 2022, as both spelling errors and authentic insight became less common. Sometimes students do not even change the font when they copy and paste from ChatGPT, she said. – AFP But Leitzinger called for empathy for students, saying they can get confused when the use of AI is being encouraged by universities in some classes but is banned in others. The usefulness of new AI tools is sometimes compared to the introduction of calculators, which required educators to change their ways. But Leitzinger worried that students do not need to know anything about a subject before pasting their essay question into ChatGPT, skipping several important steps in the process of learning. A student at a British university in his early 20s who wanted to remain anonymous told AFP he found ChatGPT was a useful tool for compiling lecture notes, searching the internet and generating ideas. 'I think that using ChatGPT to write your work for you is not right because it's not what you're supposed to be at university for,' he said. The problem goes beyond high school and university students. Academic journals are struggling to cope with a massive influx of AI-generated scientific papers. Book publishing is also not immune, with one startup planning to pump out 8,000 AI-written books a year. 'Writing is thinking, thinking is writing, and when we eliminate that process, what does that mean for thinking?' Leitzinger asked. – AFP
Kuwait Times
2 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
InvestGB launches Lulwa USD Money Market Fund
Sharia-compliant fund to provide a low-risk, highly liquid investment solution in US dollars KUWAIT: Gulf Capital Investment Company, 'InvestGB', the investment arm of Gulf Bank, has announced the launch of the Lulwa USD Money Market Fund, a Shariah-compliant investment fund with a variable capital ranging from a minimum of $7 million to a maximum of $1 billion. This marks the company's second money market fund, following the remarkable success of the Lulwa KD Money Market Fund, which was launched earlier this year. The Lulwa USD Money Market Fund aims to provide a low-risk, highly liquid investment solution in US dollars, offering weekly liquidity to meet investor needs. The minimum subscription amount is only USD 3,000. The fund is open to both individual and institutional investors inside and outside Kuwait, including non-Kuwaiti investors, whether residents or non-residents, as well as Kuwaiti, GCC, and foreign companies and institutions operating within or outside the State of Kuwait. Talal AlKhamis On this occasion, Talal AlKhamis, Director of Regional Equities and Fixed Income at InvestGB, stated: 'The Lulwa USD Money Market Fund represents an ideal option for clients seeking Shariah-compliant investments, while offering weekly liquidity. The fund aligns with the company's vision of diversifying its investment products to serve a wide range of clients.' AlKhamis added that the fund's investment strategy will focus on short-term, low-risk financial instruments, including deposits with Shariah-compliant banks, Sukuk issued by governments, banks, and investment grade companies (rated BBB or higher), as well as deposits with licensed money market funds approved by the Capital Markets Authority or by a foreign regulatory authority, provided they share the same Shariah-compliant investment objectives. Sattam Al-Marzouq, Head of Private Banking and Wealth Management at Gulf Bank, said: 'We are pleased that Gulf Bank has been appointed as the selling agent for the Lulwa USD Money Market Fund. We continuously strive to provide financial solutions that offer our clients competitive returns along with flexibility in managing their funds, including Shariah-compliant investment solutions, in line with our goal to focus on individual wealth management.' The launch of the Lulwa USD Money Market Fund follows the strong performance of the Lulwa KD Money Market Fund, which recorded a Net Asset Value (NAV) of KD 1.00925, an annualized return of 3.07 percent since its inception in mid-March 2025, and a monthly annualized return of 3.56 percent as of June 30, 2025. Since its establishment in 2023, InvestGB has achieved a series of successes that have solidified its position as one of the leading companies in the investment sector. The company has distinguished itself through notable accomplishments and strategic partnerships that have enabled it to offer innovative investment solutions. These achievements complement Gulf Bank's accomplishments in investment services and represent a noticeable leap in providing innovative investment solutions for their clients. Partnerships with leading firms such as Investcorp, Avaloq, and Ares Wealth Management Solutions have given clients access to diversified real estate portfolios, advanced digital wealth management platforms and top-tier investment products. These achievements reflect InvestGB's commitment to driving growth, supporting the investment sector in Kuwait, and delivering exceptional value to its clients. Clients can subscribe to the fund and review the subscription prospectus, the fund's articles of association, and all other details by visiting any Gulf Bank branch, as it acts as the subscription agent, or through the headquarters of 'InvestGB' located in Al-Hamra Business Tower.
