Arabic Chatbot ‘Jais Chat’ Unveiled in UAE

A bilingual Arabic and English Chatbot developed in the UAE has been unveiled by Core42, a unit of Abu Dhabi’s artificial intelligence and cloud company, G42.

The app is engineered with an Arabic-centric model which comprehends various Arabic dialects and is able to navigate cultural nuances. The app is available to download free of charge on iOS devices, and its interface is similar to popular AI interfaces like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s CoPilot.

Jai Chat is based on G42’s large language model for Arabic, Jais, which was released last year in collaboration with Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence and Silicon Valley-based Cerebras systems. In a similar manner to other AI chatbots, Jais Chat empowers users to use a variety of prompts to access information and find solutions that may elude conventional search engines.

The newly launched tool opens up new possibilities for the region, promising to enhance government communications, streamline customer service automation and empower workforces across various sectors.

Although Arabic is one of the most widespread languages in the world - spoken by about 400 million people - the complexity and diversity of Arabic dialects meant that it wasn’t at the forefront of AI development. However, that changed last year with the introduction of various Arabic Language Learning models such as Jais.

Core42 has said that future iterations of Jais Chat will be able to enable document processing, voice conversation capabilities, and enterprise support with subscription models for businesses seeking customised functionalities.

The name of the app, Jais, pays homage to the UAE’s highest peak in Ras Al Khaimah.