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Google Launches Arabic Version Of AI Chat Tool Bard
The generative AI platform can understand 16 dialects, including Saudi, Egyptian, and Emirati.
Alphabet, the company in charge of Google’s extensive suite of products, has launched an Arabic version of its artificial intelligence platform, Bard. The tool now contains updates to address Arabic speakers’ unique needs amid the search giant’s increasing rivalry with Microsoft and its infamous ChatGPT platform.
The conversational AI tool can understand questions in 16 colloquial Arabic dialects, including Egyptian, Emirati, and Saudi. However, the AI chatbot will provide answers in classical Arabic, Google execs explained at a Dubai press briefing.
“Bard will be available in the Arabic language across all corners of the Arab world as part of its global launch in 40 other languages,” announced Najeeb Jarrar, regional director of marketing for Google MENA.
Bard in Arabic now features a user interface supporting the language’s right-to-left script. At the same time, users can also input questions in several languages simultaneously, helping both bilingual speakers and novice language students.
“A big team of Google’s engineers and linguist experts worked together over the last months so that the product, Bard, will not just be a translation […] but a product that matches our use in the Arabic language,” said Marwa Khost, Google’s communications manager for MENA.
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When asked whether the relatively limited volume of Arabic online content would affect the depth of Bard’s responses, Google explained that the AI platform could source material from the wider online landscape and translate it into a user’s preferred language. The search company’s execs also noted that the amount of Arabic content had grown and diversified exponentially in recent years.
The launch of Bard in Arabic comes as the AI tool is rolled out across 59 new regions and countries, including Brazil and most of Europe. The latest expansion means Bard is available in 46 languages and 239 countries and territories.
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NEOPAY Wants To Follow Merchants Across Channels And Borders
A controlling 65% stake in noon payments would give NEOPAY access to marketplace sellers, online merchants and the payment flows they generate.
It’s been a long time since checkouts were single defined places. A merchant might take payments at a physical register, on its own website and through an online marketplace, sometimes in more than one country. NEOPAY wants to follow those transactions wherever they happen.
The UAE payments company has entered into an agreement to acquire a 65% controlling stake in noon payments. NEOPAY already runs the acquiring infrastructure that lets merchants accept card payments, along with omnichannel acceptance and a merchant services platform. This new deal would add noon payments’ embedded payments platform, e-commerce gateway and merchant network across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. That would considerably expand both NEOPAY’s digital commerce capabilities and its regional reach.
For merchants, the attraction is a single provider for online and in-store payments, plus faster settlements, data and analytics, and value-added financial services.
“Payments should be simple, reliable, and built for the markets they serve,” said Faraz Khalid, CEO of noon. His counterpart at NEOPAY, Vibhor Mundhada, added: “We have built a strong payments business in the UAE, and our ambition is now to take that capability across the region”. The acquisition, Mundhada added, would “expand our footprint into Saudi Arabia and Egypt” while reinforcing NEOPAY’s position at home.
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NEOPAY is also keen to point out potential payment volume increases. The company says noon payments’ integrations with marketplace sellers and online merchants create high transaction density in some of the region’s fastest-growing digital commerce segments. It also believes control of the business would give it access to those merchant relationships and payment flows, and speed up the rollout of alternative payment methods and installment options.
The combined roadmap targets faster merchant onboarding, better payment performance, tighter fraud controls and embedded financial services. The deal could also strengthen cross-border payments and settlement along key regional commerce corridors.
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