A 12 months after Collins Dictionary named “AI” its phrase of the 12 months, the excitement round synthetic intelligence is barely getting louder. AI and robotics have been the large themes at Gitex Global, which bills itself because the world’s largest tech occasion and ran Monday to Friday final week at Dubai’s World Trade Centre.
“I think what (was) very exciting this year (was) the focus on AI and deep tech,” mentioned Trixie LohMirmand, government vp of Dubai World Trade Centre and CEO at KAOUN International, which organizes the occasion. “A lot of companies and industries are now attempting to leverage AI, especially getting into the underserved industries such as healthcare.”
According to Patrick Dennis, CEO of US telecommunications firm Avaya, AI represents an enormous development alternative. “The reason why AI is such a big deal,” he instructed NCS from the occasion, “is there hasn’t been a shift capable of moving worldwide GDP like this in a very, very long time – think industrial revolution. And that gives everybody an opportunity to take (market) share from their competitors, build new markets and grow.”
The present, which debuted in 1981 because the Gulf Computer Exhibition in a single corridor at the identical venue, is now on its forty fourth version and this 12 months spanned 40 halls, boasting over 6,500 exhibitors, 1,800 startups and 1,200 traders, with attendees from 180 nations. Gitex has crossed borders past the United Arab Emirates, with equivalents in Germany, Singapore and Morocco.
Several firms launched new merchandise at this 12 months’s present, together with Dubai-based deep tech firm Xpanceo, which debuted the brand new prototypes of its good contact lenses.
One of the lenses offered at the occasion may present AR (augmented actuality) content material whereas consuming simply 1 to three microwatts of energy, or as much as 300 instances lower than typical AR glasses. Another prototype was able to knowledge transmission immediately into the lens, permitting it to obtain and work together with knowledge, for instance coming from biometric sensors positioned elsewhere on the physique.
Among different noteworthy sightings on the present ground have been Maha, a brand new Emirati humanoid robotic instructor, and Mand.ro, an reasonably priced robotic prosthetic hand developed in South Korea that provides excessive ranges of customization however begins at solely $1,000 — a number of thousand {dollars} cheaper than immediately’s typical market choices.
Next 12 months, Gitex will make its debut in Nigeria, which LohMirmand calls “a future AI superpower.” “It was very interesting and encouraging for us to note that many emerging, rising nations, cities and countries are trying to get into the game of digital transformation, and you can feel the urgency and motivation to accelerate that transformation in as short a time as possible,” she mentioned.