Author: Art Ryan

– Robotics, AI, cloud, cybersecurity & telecom advancements on full display as Chhaya Technologies of Bangladesh wins US50,000 first prize in world’s ultimate pitch competition Singapore – 26 April, 2025: GITEX ASIA x Ai Everything Singapore showcased Southeast Asia’s position among the world’s fastest-rising and most vibrant innovation hubs for a third time on Friday as this year’s critically acclaimed first edition concluded in thrilling fashion.Organised by Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) and KAOUN International in affiliation with GITEX GLOBAL, the Asian inaugural edition of the world’s largest show took centre stage at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore from 23-25 April. Following an action-packed…

Dubai: Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Dubai Future Foundation, reaffirmed Dubai’s commitment to accelerating AI adoption to unlock new opportunities and consolidate its position as a global hub for AI enterprises, talent and innovation. His remarks came during the closing of Dubai AI Week 2025, which attracted over 30,000 experts and participants from more than 100 countries from around the world. Organised by the Dubai Centre for Artificial Intelligence and overseen by the Dubai Future Foundation, Dubai AI…

Cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike recently announced it would expand integration with Google Cloud to enable end-to-end security for AI innovation with CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security. Google Cloud recently named CrowdStrike its Security Partner of the Year for Cloud Workload Security, honoring the company as a leader in implementing security solutions, including infrastructure, workloads, applications, identities, data, SaaS, and AI models from a single, unified platform. “Google Cloud’s Partner Awards recognize partners who have created outsized value for customers through the delivery of innovative solutions and a high level of expertise,” said Kevin Ichhpurani, President of Google Cloud’s Global Partner Ecosystem. “We’re…

Microsoft has revealed that it’s created a minute-long advert for its Surface Pro and Surface Laptop hardware using generative AI. But there’s a twist: it released the ad almost three months ago, and no-one seemed to notice the AI elements. The ad, which went live on YouTube on January 30th, isn’t entirely made up of generated content. In a Microsoft Design blog post published Wednesday, senior design communications manager Jay Tan admits that “the occasional AI hallucination would rear its head,” meaning the creators had to correct some of the AI output and integrate it with real footage. “When deciding on which…

Recent advancements in multimodal AI have highlighted a persistent challenge: achieving strong specialized reasoning capabilities while preserving generalization across diverse tasks. “Slow-thinking” models such as OpenAI-o1 and Gemini-Thinking have made strides in deliberate analytical reasoning but often exhibit compromised performance on general visual understanding tasks, with increased tendencies toward visual hallucinations. As the field progresses toward building general-purpose AI systems, reconciling this tradeoff remains a critical research problem. Skywork AI Introduces Skywork R1V2 Skywork AI has released Skywork R1V2, a next-generation multimodal reasoning model designed to address the reasoning-generalization tradeoff systematically. Building upon the foundation of Skywork R1V, R1V2 introduces…

Chinese startup Manus AI has secured $75 million in fresh funding. The round, led by Benchmark, a leading venture capital firm, has brought the company’s valuation to approximately $500 million. Manus AI focuses on building general-purpose AI agents to perform a wide range of digital tasks. Thanks to this new funding, Manus can expand internationally to target regions like the United States, Japan, and the Middle East. What Manus AI Offers Manus is developing AI agents that complete everyday digital tasks like scheduling meetings and organizing emails. In March, the company launched a demo of its AI assistant; however, some users found…

Google parent Alphabet on Thursday reported profit of $34.5 billion in the recently ended quarter, powered by its cloud computing and artificial intelligence operations. Overall revenue at Alphabet grew 12 percent to $90.2 billion compared to the same period a year earlier, while revenue for the cloud unit grew 28 percent to $12.3 billion, according to the tech giant. Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai said the strong quarterly results reflect healthy growth and momentum across the business. “Underpinning this growth is our unique full stack approach to AI,” Pichai said in an earnings release. He touted the latest Gemini software…

Dubai, UAE – April 2025 — As artificial intelligence continues its rapid evolution, Ronnie Sheth, CEO of Senen Group, is championing a bold and refreshing message: AI must be people-first to truly succeed. Speaking at the Dubai AI Festival, Sheth shared her unique perspective on building human-centered AI experiences, the importance of practical use cases, and why Dubai is poised to lead the AI-driven future. Senen Group: Designing Human-Centered AI Experiences Senen Group isn’t just another consultancy — it stands apart as a female-founded, diverse international strategic data and AI advisory company. “We design and deploy human-centered experiences using disruptive…

Dubai, UAE – April 2025 — In an era where customers expect instant, personalized interactions around the clock, Keybe INC is leading the charge with Viki — a dynamic AI sales agent redefining conversational commerce. Speaking at the Dubai AI Festival, Caleb Ramos, Chief Sales Officer of Keybe, shared how Viki is setting a new standard for how businesses engage, convert, and delight customers. Viki: The Always-On AI Sales Agent Viki operates across the most popular messaging platforms — WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook — enabling businesses to maintain 24/7 customer engagement. “Our sales teams typically work about five hours a…

Dubai, UAE – April 2025 — At the heart of the Dubai AI Festival, where innovation meets impact, M Farhan Kalim, Founder and CEO of Sorise Technology, shared a bold and inspiring vision: to use AI to build true equality in education worldwide. His company’s groundbreaking efforts are already making waves across the UAE, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, transforming the way students learn and succeed. Sorise Technology: Revolutionizing Academic Success with AI Drawing from over 14 years of academic experience, Kalim identified a critical problem in traditional education systems: students were not failing for lack of effort — they were…

Dubai, UAE – April 2025 — As businesses race to unlock the potential of artificial intelligence, Aamer Mushtaq, Head of Solution Engineering META at Snowflake, explained how a solid data foundation is key to success. Speaking at the Dubai AI Festival, Mushtaq shared how Snowflake is empowering organizations across the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa to harness their data for transformative AI use cases. Snowflake: An AI Data Cloud Built for the Future At its core, Snowflake offers a revolutionary AI Data Cloud, delivered seamlessly as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution. It operates across the world’s leading cloud providers — AWS,…

Dubai, UAE – April 2025 — In the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, one question remains paramount: Why do you need AI? At the Dubai AI Festival, Nader Torki, AI Strategy Consultant at Sia Consultancy, offered critical insights into helping businesses and individuals answer that question — not with hype, but with strategic clarity. Moving Beyond the AI Hype “AI is just a technology — not a goal in itself,” Torki explained during his conversation at the festival. His role focuses on helping organizations understand their true business objectives and determine where AI can add real value. “It’s not…

Dubai, UAE – April 2025 — As artificial intelligence accelerates across industries and borders, Dr. Hakim Hacid, Chief Researcher at the AI & Digital Science Research Center of the Technology Innovation Institute (TII) in Abu Dhabi, offered deep insights during his participation at the Dubai AI Festival. His message: AI will transform, not replace, our future — and the UAE is setting the global pace in smart city development. The Future of Work: Transformation, Not Replacement Speaking on the panel discussions, Dr. Hacid tackled a question that looms large in the public imagination: Will AI take our jobs? His answer…

Dubai, UAE – April 2025 — As the world races to unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence, Mandeep Singh, CEO and Founder of Nelpex GmbH, reminds us that behind every breakthrough in AI software lies a crucial foundation: hardware. Speaking at the Dubai AI Festival, Singh highlighted why enabling AI through powerful infrastructure is critical — and why his company is perfectly positioned to lead this essential charge. Nelpex GmbH: The Unsung Heroes of AI Enablement While much of the industry’s attention remains fixed on AI applications and software innovation, Nelpex GmbH — with bases in Germany and the…

Dubai, UAE – April 2025 — The Dubai AI Festival continues to be a global beacon for AI innovation and thought leadership. Among the distinguished voices at the event was Kaustubh Wagle, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), who shared an optimistic yet grounded perspective on AI’s transformative journey and the UAE’s pivotal role in it. An Energizing Experience in Dubai Reflecting on the festival, Wagle described the atmosphere as “energizing”, noting the rich exchange of ideas, the unveiling of the latest AI developments, and the strategic leadership role the UAE is taking in the global AI…

Dubai, UAE – April 2025 — As the world’s attention increasingly turns toward the future of technology, Dubai is rapidly positioning itself as a global epicenter. Saqr Ereiqat, Secretary General of the Dubai Digital Asset Association, shared his reflections on this transformation during an insightful conversation at the Dubai AI Festival. Dubai’s Rising Status on the Global Stage Describing the event, Ereiqat emphasized the unique role Dubai now plays as a meeting point for global innovation. “Dubai is becoming the center where East and West, North and South converge,” Ereiqat observed. “The whole world is coming together here to collaborate…

Dubai, UAE – April 2025 — Against the dynamic backdrop of the Dubai AI Festival, Shaun Ayrton, founder and CEO of Galini, shared his visionary insights into the fast-evolving world of artificial intelligence. With an emphasis on speed, security, and accessibility, Galini is positioned at the forefront of helping companies adopt AI technologies safely and efficiently — and Ayrton is clearly enthusiastic about what’s ahead. A Show of Vision and Seniority Reflecting on the event itself, Ayrton praised the seniority and forward-looking vision of the attendees. “The global plenary discussions here have been standout compared to other countries,” he remarked,…

Dubai, UAE – April 2025 — As the education sector grapples with the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, one voice offering clarity, experience, and hope is that of Mustafa Elsayed, a seasoned educational consultant with over a decade in international education, student recruitment, and career coaching. Speaking at the Dubai AI Festival, Elsayed shared his perspective on the evolving role of AI in transforming global education — particularly in the MENA region. Bridging Dreams with Global Education Elsayed is deeply rooted in a mission-driven profession: helping students from the Middle East and North Africa achieve their academic aspirations abroad. As…

Dubai, UAE – April 2025 — In a powerful move to revolutionize travel and hospitality services, Chris Ezekiel, Founder and CEO of Creative Virtual, announced the launch of World Concierge AI during the Dubai AI Festival. With over two decades of leadership in conversational AI, Creative Virtual is now setting its sights on a sector where customer experience is everything — and where technology is poised to make a monumental difference. Introducing World Concierge AI: Personalized Travel Assistance Powered by AI World Concierge AI is designed to transform the travel and hospitality sector, offering virtual concierge services for travel companies,…

Singapore – 25 April, 2025: Following a critically acclaimed opening day where capacity crowds examined Asia’s tech revolution and innovation leadership, GITEX ASIA x Ai Everything Singapore again showcased the region’s digital transformation trajectory on an action-packed event programme where AI dominated the in-depth discussions. Organised by Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) and KAOUN International in affiliation with GITEX GLOBAL, the Asian inaugural edition of the world’s largest show is running at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore from April 23-25. Under the theme ‘Advancing Bold Partnerships in Asia’, the region’s largest inaugural tech, startup, and digital investments event welcomes 700+ enterprises and award-winning startups…