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Core42 Announces Overhaul Of Compass Platform & Chat App
The raft of new features and tools will empower businesses and developers to build a wide range of GenAI applications.
Cloud and AI infrastructure experts Core42 have overhauled their Compass platform for enhanced navigation and easier access while adding a wealth of new features, including a Compass Chat mobile app.
Earlier this year, the company launched a new inferencing platform — Compass Version 2.0 — integrating Qualcomm Cloud AI 100 Ultra inference accelerators, allowing users to leverage a suite of pre-optimized Generative AI, Embeddings, Natural Language Processing AI models, Computer Vision, and APIs.
The latest update enables developers to analyze their usage on the platform and also includes a Stable Diffusion text-to-image model for high-quality image generation, typography, and prompt responses to queries.
“The Compass platform is a testament to Core42’s pursuit of excellence and innovation in AI infrastructure. The additions of the revamped Compass platform, as well as the introduction of the Compass Chat mobile app, will redefine how businesses interact with AI and provide even greater flexibility and efficiency in today’s digital era,” announced Raghu Chakravarthi, EVP of Engineering, Core42.
Compass Chat — available on Android and iOS — is designed to boost productivity and integrates with Entra ID to enhance security and streamline onboarding. Meanwhile, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology improves data reliability and accuracy. The app features a unified interface, consolidating work and search histories while enabling a more efficient user experience.
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“Compass Chat provides access to leading AI models like GPT-4o and JAIS 30B, ensuring advanced language processing capabilities. It also supports both Arabic and English and offers seamless, synchronized chats across devices, allowing users to maintain productivity at their desks or on the move,” added Chakravarthi.
With the latest update of its Compass platform, Core42 continues to strengthen its product offering and offers yet more proof that the UAE is rapidly becoming a global hub for AI innovation.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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