During the International Conference on Publishing and Creative Industries
Content creators and specialists: Let's restore the value of the Arab imagination
Brian Bendis: Comics is one of the oldest human languages in the world. Cinematographer: Najeeb Mohammed
Participants in the "Arab Fantasy Tales" session discussed the challenges faced by Arab fantasy. Cinematographer: Najeeb Mohammed
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Content creators and publishers confirmed that the world will witness successive developments during the next few years, in light of the great and accelerated development in the capabilities of artificial intelligence and its applications, pointing to the need to work to promote digital and visual Arabic content in all its forms, so that Arabs can keep pace with this development, and that the makers of this content have responsibility in their ideas, issues and proposals, so that the matter does not turn against us.
This came during the sessions of the International Conference on Arab Publishing and Creative Industries in its second edition, which began yesterday and concludes today, at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, organized by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Center at the Department of Culture and Tourism, as part of the activities of the 32nd edition of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, with the participation of a group of publishers, translators, content creators, and entrepreneurs from around the world.
Dr. Ali bin Tamim, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Center, said: "Since its first session, the conference has met an urgent need in the Arab arena, as it represents a platform worthy of the efforts to resume civilization carried out by the UAE, and keeps pace with Abu Dhabi's unlimited support for creativity and its respect for creators in all fields, and supports the Center's and the Department of Culture and Tourism's endeavor to enhance the presence of the Arabic language among the languages of the world."
He explained that the conference in its current session, entitled "Adapting Storytelling", seeks to restore the value of fiction, discuss all related topics, recall the repertoire of Arab heritage, miraculous and exotic literature, and magical worlds, and shed light on the experiences of modern and ancient Arabic literature, and how to employ it in enriching Arabic content, and introducing new generations to the heritage of their ancestors to draw and shape their future.
Experiences
For his part, comic book author Brian Michael Bendis, who is widely renowned for his experience, reviewed his experience in creating superhero stories and characters in comics, explaining that these stories and the "comic language" are one of the oldest human languages in the world, as they are similar to primitive cave drawings, and are also the most advanced languages and keep pace with technical development in different eras.
For his part, artificial intelligence expert and former CEO of business at Google X, Muhammad Jawdat, warned of the danger of complacency in updating and enriching Arabic content online, expecting - if the development of artificial intelligence continues at the same pace - that the coming years will witness the emergence of a new object in the world 10 times more intelligent than Einstein, in which case it will be a "super hero" of a new type.
Jawdat called for responsibility in the content industry, because it represents the source of knowledge for artificial intelligence, and therefore will have the biggest role in determining whether it will be a superhero in the positive sense of the universe and the world, or a tremendous evil for humanity.
In the debate with Dr. Rafid Fatani from Amazon, Alexa's regional general manager for the Middle East and North Africa, he pointed out that the IQ ratios of the fourth version of the artificial intelligence service (Chat GPT) reached 155, while the IQ of the scientist Einstein is 160. The new version is expected to have an IQ of 10 times higher than the current one, which requires a great awareness of the wide opportunities offered by this service, and the risks it can cause. He predicted that if that happens, the smartest Arabic speaker will be artificial intelligence.
Tales
While the participants in the session "Arab Fantasy Tales: Where Has All That Magic Disappeared?", which discussed contemporary Arab fantasy works and the challenges they face to consolidate their literary identity among Arab and international audiences, considered that works of fiction still exist, but they face various challenges, most notably productivity and material, given that the production of these works requires huge budgets to come out with a globally competitive level.
Emirati director Naila Al Khaja stressed that "there is an abundance of fantasy and fantasy novels in the Arab world, especially in Egypt, but their transformation into works of art faces production challenges," referring to her new film that she is working on "Bab", which is of the type of fantasy and horror and carries a clear Emirati imprint.
She explained that she was inspired by her "tinnitus", which caused her terrible pain during her pregnancy with her twin children, and evoked fairy tales from local heritage.
For his part, the Egyptian writer Ahmed Murad differentiated between two types of fiction: fantasy and science fiction, pointing to the reluctance of a large segment of Arab writers to write fiction and fantasy because of the view of it as closer to children, and their tendency to simulate the Arab reality with its issues, expecting that the coming period will witness a strong return to it as a result of the association of young people with comics and animation.
For his part, the creative director of the Emirati company «Sandstorm», Mohammed Al-Shaibani, said that «good writing must be preceded by multiple readings in various fields», considering that the success of comics is linked to the strength of the story, and the depth of the impact it leaves in the same spectator.
Ali bin Tamim: "The conference represents a platform worthy of the efforts to resume civilization undertaken by the UAE."
Naila Al Khaja: "There is an abundance of Arab fiction novels, but turning them into works of art faces the challenges of production."
Discussions
In its sessions, the International Conference on Arab Publishing and Creative Industries discussed issues related to fiction and content creation, such as the relationship between the novel and films, entertainment education and how to use entertainment to support the quality of education, audiobooks and podcasts, in light of the recent trend of many music streaming platforms to expand their scope of work by adding audiobooks and podcasts to the music content provided to their users. She also highlighted the importance of the role of translation and adapting content to the local culture, to make Arabic content available to global audiences, and to provide global content to Arab audiences.