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Plaud Note Pro Launches In UAE For AI-Driven Workflows
The AI note taking brand’s latest device enters the Emirates as professionals look to automate meetings and capture insights.
Plaud has introduced its Plaud Note Pro in the UAE, bringing the flagship AI note-taking device to one of the region’s fastest-growing markets for digital productivity. The rollout positions the San Francisco-based company in a market pushing deep into automation under the National AI Strategy 2031, which aims to embed AI across every major sector.
The device targets professionals in law, healthcare, finance, and education — fields where high-context discussions often demand accurate, secure documentation. It records, transcribes, and summarizes conversations in real time, using a “press to highlight” function that lets users flag critical points as they happen. “For the first time, Plaud’s unique Press-to-highlight feature enables humans to signal to AI what matters most, achieving true human – AI alignment,” said Nathan Xu, Plaud’s Co-founder and CEO.
Powered by Plaud Intelligence 3.0, the Note Pro merges audio, text, and images into structured summaries. The system dynamically routes data through language models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, offering Ask Plaud, a reference-based Q&A tool that grounds every answer in original recordings. The engine also includes over 3,000 templates and new multidimensional summaries that analyze meetings across several themes, from decisions to follow-up actions.
Also Read: Tesla Brings Cybertruck To Qatar In Latest Regional Push
Hardware specifications support that AI layer: The Note Pro uses four AI microphones with studio-grade pickup up to 16 feet, automatic mode switching between calls and meetings, and a 50-hour battery life. With compliance across SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and EN18031, Plaud is targeting enterprise and government clients that prioritize data control.
Already trusted by more than a million users worldwide, Plaud’s expansion into the GCC shows growing demand for practical AI tools that integrate into daily work. The company will showcase its lineup — including the Note Pro, Note, and NotePin — at GITEX 2025.
Pre-orders are open at uae.plaud.ai, with the Plaud App available on iOS and Android.
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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