RIYADH: President of the Saudi Data and AI Authority Abdullah Al-Ghamdi recently honored the winning teams of the largest event dedicated to advancing the Arabic language, the Allam Challenge, held in Riyadh from Nov. 7-9.
The competition, organized in collaboration with the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, with technical support from IBM and the National Technology Development Program, attracted 600 participants from 17 countries.
The event celebrated the achievements of talented individuals dedicated to advancing Arabic language technologies through AI, with a prize pool of SR1 million ($266,000), the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The competition aimed to develop AI models capable of writing and understanding Arabic poetry, parsing sentences accurately, and teaching the Arabic language in an engaging manner.
The deputy director of the National Information Center, Mishari Almishari, emphasized the significance of developing technologies to preserve the Arabic language, especially in an era of rapid technological advancements.
The first team secured a prize of SR500,000, the second won SR300,000, and the third won SR200,000. Additionally, five teams from the National Technology Development Program were recognized for their outstanding projects, receiving a total prize of SR750,000.
More than 50 mentors and 40 judges — experts in AI and the Arabic language — oversaw the challenge, providing support to participating teams and evaluating projects based on criteria to ensure the sustainability of the proposed solutions.
By supporting such initiatives, the authority reinforces its commitment to harnessing AI to empower the Arabic language and foster innovation in the field.
