{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fafikra.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2Fnizar-habash-Dg52qS9k","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"How Technology Is Changing the Arabic Language Forever | Prof. Nizar Habash","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/1ce0a58c-3e05-4d4b-a2e7-f3ffb869b215/29decdd8-9ed2-413f-87ee-5362994ea4a1/the_afikra_podcast.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"<iframe src=\"https://player.simplecast.com/a51a03b6-8c0b-4e9c-a14e-dbbbe250ec96\" height=\"200\" width=\"100%\" title=\"How Technology Is Changing the Arabic Language Forever | Prof. Nizar Habash\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>","height":200,"description":"Language serves as the vital intersection of cultural identity and technological innovation, yet the rapid rise of AI reveals a significant representation gap for the nearly many million ways the Arab world communicates. Professor Nizar Habash, a computer science professor and director of the CAMEL Lab at NYU Abu Dhabi, explores the historical anxieties surrounding technological shifts, drawing a direct parallel between the 150-year delay of the Arabic printing press and contemporary concerns regarding data bias in large language models. The conversation navigates the inherent challenges of modeling a language characterized by immense dialectal variety and non-standardized orthography, shifting the focus from perceived linguistic complexity to the practical need for bespoke, regional data sets. As the field transitions from rigid, rule-based systems to sophisticated neural models capable of abstract meaning through embeddings, the dialogue underscores the urgency of building localized, open-source tools like JAIS and FAMAR to ensure the Arab world's history and diverse voices are accurately represented in the digital age."}