Yet more major multinational corporations are investing in Arabic AI infrastructure as Gulf states roll out their technological expansion agenda.
The payment card giant Visa is the latest to enter the fray, announcing a partnership with Arabic speech AI developer intella to develop conversational AI systems for financial institutions throughout the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region. With over 25 Arabic dialects supported, the investment is designed to serve a massive population base as MENA countries position themselves for an AI-first future.
"This is a pivotal moment. Visa’s partnership with intella validates our foundational belief: that true understanding of the Arab world cannot be an afterthought, it must be the core of the technology," said Nour Taher, co-founder and CEO of intella, in a press release. "We are not just providing a tool; we are unlocking the real voice of the customer for the entire regional banking ecosystem. This collaboration will empower financial leaders to make strategic decisions with unprecedented clarity, driving growth and innovation based on every customer conversation."
Visa and intella are pitching the development as an investment that will not only set the foundations for the future of MENA financial customer service but also build upon them as time goes on. According to the companies’ press announcement, the technology is capable of analyzing every customer interaction and shaping it to improve future interactions, bolstering compliance, agent performance, and product development.
What’s more, the technology overcomes a central challenge in Arabic AI development: the confusion caused by the language’s many dialects. In many ways, the Arabic language’s rich and storied history — and the dialectical children that history produced — is an obstacle for a technology model that thrives best on simple, straightforward expressions with little variance. According to the press release, intella engineered its technology to overcome this very problem, achieving industry-leading accuracy when navigating Arabic dialects.
“We are thrilled to embark on this collaborative journey with intella, leveraging the expertise of Visa Consulting and Analytics to co-develop and enrich conversational AI solutions tailored specifically to address the aspirations of our partners across the MENA region,” said Basma Berti, VP for Visa consulting and analytics, in a press release.
“Visa Implementation Services will lead the delivery and implementation of these solutions across the region to enable this partnership to go far beyond a simple technology integration — it is a shared commitment to expanding the capabilities of Arabic conversational AI, covering 25 dialects across the Middle East and North Africa,” she added. “Together, we are shaping a powerful unified solution that will empower financial institutions to deliver truly localized and innovative customer experiences at scale, supporting growth and transformation throughout the region."
It’s the latest multinational investment in MENA AI systems following major contributions from international titans like IBM and Google. And for Visa and intella, it’s just the beginning. Eventually, the companies plan to integrate intella’s full product ecosystem into the Visa network. First up is intellaCX, which “turns unstructured call data into strategic assets.” intella’s advanced AI agent Ziila will follow shortly thereafter, which company officials believe will set a new automated customer service standard throughout the MENA region.