DUBAI: Vice Media plans to launch in the Middle East this summer in a bid to target the huge Arabic-speaking youth market.
It has partnered with the Dubai-headquartered Moby Group, and is also in discussions to bring its TV channel Viceland to the region.
Jahid Mohseni, chief digital officer at Moby Group, told Arab News that Vice will start life in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with an online presence.
“Vice is also exploring other potential partnerships to bring Viceland, its TV channel, to the region; discussions are ongoing,” he said.
Shane Smith, the co-founder and CEO of Vice Media, last week visited Dubai to mark the upcoming launch in MENA.
“Vice will go live in Arabic this summer and will have its regional headquarters in the UAE. Shane Smith is here to introduce Vice to the region and celebrate Vice’s arrival with audiences and industry stakeholders,” Mohseni said.
“We are super excited about the level of talent and enthusiasm of candidates eager to join Vice. We are in the process of identifying and hiring talent, so it is too soon to comment on staff numbers.”
Reuters reported, however, that Vice is aiming for about 50 staff in Dubai by the end of the year. The new hub will also produce content in other languages including English, Persian, Turkish and Urdu, Reuters said.
Vice’s global operation has covered a wilfully diverse range of subjects, with particularly memorable stories including a reporter who was “embedded” with Daesh, and one involving basketball star Dennis Rodman on a bizarre visit to North Korea.
Vice is known for its edgy, youth-orientated content, often with liberal sprinkling of expletives and references to sex and drug culture — topics that are, to put it mildly, not exactly staples of the mainstream Middle Eastern media. The North American media giant is also entering a region known for tight restrictions on press freedom.
Mohseni said, however, that the content produced in Arabic by Vice would share similarities with the global output.
“Vice will offer in MENA, as it does globally, human stories that are relevant, meaningful and entertaining for young people,” he said. “It will create content by local talent for young local audiences in addition to bringing global content to the region. Equally as important, Vice will bring the great work of journalists and creators throughout this region to its audience of hundreds of millions of people around the world.”
Shane Smith also visited the twofour54 media hub in Abu Dhabi, a statement from the zone authorities said.
He met with Noura Al-Kaabi, UAE minister for Federal National Council Affairs and chairwoman of twofour54, to discuss how Vice Media will help meet the “huge” demand for youth-focused programming in the region, the statement said.
“Vice Media’s expansion into the region from the UAE is exciting news for the industry and will help to meet the growing appetite of Arab millennials for world-class digital content,” Al-Kaabi said.
“We look forward to working with Mr. Smith and Vice Media as the company enters the market here.”
Smith said: “We’re very excited to launch this joint venture in the hub of the region’s media industry, the UAE. We’ll be building a state-of-the-art production and editorial studio that will tap into the best young filmmakers, journalists and producers from across the region, giving the burgeoning local youth audiences the gold standard of millennial programming.”
The announcement of Vice’s arrival was marked on Wednesday night with a party at Dubai’s glitzy Armani Hotel, which is housed in the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.
There is nothing particularly edgy about the Armani hotel, which is arguably known more for canapes than youth culture. But it was a very “Dubai” place to mark the launch.
“Yes, it’s at the Armani, which we thought would be an iconic Dubai location to celebrate at,” Mohseni said.
Vice Media to bring edgy brand of journalism to Mideast
Vice Media to bring edgy brand of journalism to Mideast
WEF report spotlights real-world AI adoption across industries
DUBAI: A new report by the World Economic Forum, released Monday, highlights companies across more than 30 countries and 20 industries that are using artificial intelligence to deliver real-world impact.
Developed in partnership with Accenture, “Proof over Promise: Insights on Real-World AI Adoption from 2025 MINDS Organizations” draws on insights from two cohorts of MINDS (Meaningful, Intelligent, Novel, Deployable Solutions), a WEF initiative focused on AI solutions that have moved beyond pilot phases to deliver measurable performance gains.
As part of its AI Global Alliance, the WEF launched the MINDS program in 2025, announcing its first cohort that year and a second cohort this week. Cohorts are selected through an evaluation process led by the WEF’s Impact Council — an independent group of experts — with applications open to public- and private-sector organizations across industries.
The report found a widening gap between organizations that have successfully scaled AI and those still struggling, while underscoring how this divide can be bridged through real-world case studies.
Based on these case studies and interviews with selected MINDS organizations, the report identified five key insights distinguishing successful AI adopters from others.
It found that leading organizations are moving away from isolated, tactical uses of AI and instead embedding it as a strategic, enterprise-wide capability.
The second insight centers on people, with AI increasingly designed to complement human expertise through closer collaboration, rather than replace it.
The other insights focus on the systems needed to scale AI effectively, including strengthening data foundations and strategic data sources, as well as moving away from fragmented technologies toward unified AI platforms.
Lastly, the report underscores the need for responsible AI, with organizations strengthening governance, safeguards and human oversight as automated decision-making becomes more widespread.
Stephan Mergenthaler, managing director and chief technology officer at the WEF, said: “AI offers extraordinary potential, yet many organizations remain unsure about how to realize it.
“The selected use cases show what is possible when ambition is translated into operational transformation and our new report provides a practical guide to help others follow the path these leaders have set.”
Among the examples cited in the report is a pilot led by the Saudi Ministry of Health in partnership with AmplifAI, which used AI-enabled thermal imaging to support early detection of diabetic foot conditions.
The initiative reduced clinician time by up to 90 percent, cut treatment costs by as much as 80 percent, and delivered a 10 time increase in screening capacity. Following clinical trials, the solution has been approved by regulatory authorities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain.
The report also points to work by Fujitsu, which deployed AI across its supply chain to improve inventory management. The rollout helped cut inventory-related costs by $15 million, reduce excess stock by $20 million and halve operational headcount.
In India, Tech Mahindra scaled multilingual large language models capable of handling 3.8 million monthly queries with 92 percent accuracy, enabling more inclusive access to digital services across markets in the Global South.
“Trusted, advanced AI can transform businesses, but it requires organizing data and processes to achieve the best of technology and — this is key — it also requires human ingenuity to maximize returns on AI investments,” said Manish Sharma, chief strategy and services officer at Accenture.
