3 days ago
Government advisor: Iraq is working to establish an artificial intelligence data center to serve Arab countries
The Prime Minister's Advisor for Artificial Intelligence Affairs, Diaa al-Jumaili, announced on Tuesday the start of organizational procedures to open the headquarters of the Artificial Intelligence Center in Baghdad, while noting that Iraq will work to establish an artificial intelligence project that serves the Arab countries.
Al-Jumaili told the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "The Arab Center for Artificial Intelligence, which is similar to the Arab Union for Artificial Intelligence, will be based in Baghdad, because the start of artificial intelligence started from here 1,200 years ago through algorithms, logic and algebra."
He added that 'the first step that was taken was the approval of the Prime Minister, Mohammed Shi'a Al-Soudani, along with the approval of the Arab Summit that was recently held in Baghdad, that the center of artificial intelligence will be in the capital,' noting that 'organizational procedures have begun, and the first of these steps was the approval of the project.'
'There were several previous opportunities for other countries to host the center during the past five decades, but the circumstances that Iraq went through, especially the wars, prevented this,' he said, pointing out that 'the technical and organizational aspect has already started, and there is a meeting soon with the Prime Minister to complete the deliberations, because Iraq will be obligated to lay the foundations for the center.'
"Iraq has a large number of engineers and professors specialized in the philosophy of artificial intelligence," he said, stressing "the need for advanced data centers and a strong communications network."
"Iraq will now work with Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt to take advantage of the technology available to them, in addition to utilizing Iraqi skills to create a project that serves Arab countries, especially in the Arabic language," he said.
'The future success of artificial intelligence in the Arab world depends on Arabic , which contains more than 12 million and 500,000 vocabulary, compared to English, in which artificial intelligence relies on only about 6,500 vocabulary,' he said, pointing out that 'the humanization of the machine will be through Arabic poetry, and Iraq has a long history in this field, because it is the cradle of two large linguistic schools, Kufa and Basra.'
"Without the algorithms that originated in Baghdad, there would have been no industrial revolution or sciences such as engineering, philosophy and artificial intelligence," he said, noting that "Iraq's steps are correct, and we need technology and skills."
