AI risks and opportunity for news industry take centre stage at Arab Media Summit
28 May 2025 00:41
KHALED AL KHAWALDEH (DUBAI)The transformative power of AI in the media landscape dominated the agenda at the Arab Media Summit in Dubai on Tuesday, with top regional officials and thought leaders urging media institutions to embrace emerging technologies or risk being left behind.Speaking at one of the forum's headline panels, Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Butti Al Hamed, Chairman of the National Media Office, and Chairman of the UAE Media Council, stressed that adapting to emerging technologies and understanding how to deal with them determines the global competitiveness and relevance of media institutions.Al Hamed noted the global shift from traditional media to technology-driven platforms, emphasising the need for media entities to embrace this transformation.'Media platforms that fail to adapt to modern technologies will vanish,' Al Hamed said, adding the landscape continues to evolve rapidly. He called for the responsible and conscious use of modern tools.Al Hamed stressed that the media must stay at the forefront of technological change to remain relevant and continue engaging younger generations.Warning against complacency amid rapid tech advancements, he added: 'If you don't learn it today, it will be hard to learn it tomorrow.'Dr. Ramzan bin Abdullah Al Noaimi, Minister of Information of Bahrain, highlighted the dual-edged nature of AI's rise in the industry. 'Arab media is at a critical stage due to the entry of AI,' he said. 'There is an opportunity for us to elevate our industry but also the potential to go backwards.'Al Noaimi stressed that successfully integrating AI would depend on more than just innovation, saying that institutional commitment and human adaptability were essential to ensure the proper and ethical utilisation of the technology. He called for comprehensive workforce transformation led by institutions embracing AI from the very top. 'The AI is there to help people, so we need to help them understand it and learn to use it — we need to bring people along.'
Credibility amid Faster News Cycles With information cycles moving at a pace that's faster than ever, the media must also deal with the changing expectations of news consumers, said Abdulrahman Al Mutairi, Kuwait's Minister of Information and Culture.'Today, the speed of news is very important, but it must have credibility and accuracy,' Al Mutairi said. 'AI can help in that and should therefore be welcomed — although it needs to be implemented in the right way to ensure this.'
Irreplaceable Human Element From a technological perspective, Dr. Marwan Alzarouni, CEO of Artificial Intelligence at Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism, envisioned a future where AI lowers barriers to entry and fuels creativity. 'There will be one-person start-ups,' he predicted, highlighting how AI tools could democratise media creation and entrepreneurship. While he acknowledged the novelty and disruptive force of current AI advances, he reminded attendees that humans would remain central. 'Despite all of this advancement, the future will definitely still be human-based.'
That human focus was further emphasised by Hamad Al Shirawi, Director of Projects at Dubai Future Foundation, who likened fears surrounding AI to early internet anxieties. 'When you talk about your concerns, it's only natural — just like when the internet came out,' Al Shirawi said. 'It is a wave that we will have to ride, and we will have to learn.' Once considered an optional edge, AI is now a core requirement for success, he added, calling on media professionals to see it as a change to up their game rather than a replacement for their talent. 'It used to be a secret weapon. Now it's a weapon that you must have,' said Al Shirawi. 'Don't be afraid of AI. Embrace it.'
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