CNN to expand Middle East operations with new hub in Qatar

DUBAI: Meta on Sunday announced the official launch of its AI assistant Meta AI in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Powered by the company’s latest Llama 3.2 large language model, Meta AI is available across all Meta platforms and products, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

“The rollout is gradual, so while many users can already see Meta AI on their apps, some users will be getting it in the coming weeks,” Fares Akkad, Meta’s regional director, told Arab News in an exclusive interview.

Meta first announced the AI assistant at its Connect event in 2023 before launching it the following year in select markets. Today, it is expanding its reach across the region, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq, and extending its “support for Arabic,” Akkad said.

He added that Meta AI is already available via desktop devices and some countries might get access sooner than others, “but rest assured, we’re working to make sure millions of users in the Middle East can be part of this growth.”

Although businesses in the region have access to Meta’s AI-powered advertising, they will not have access to the new platform at this time.

Akkad said Meta is “actively exploring opportunities to introduce it in the future,” but did not specify a date.

AI chatbots are growing in popularity, and are used for everything from relationship advice to resume writing. Nearly a billion people use AI chatbots today, according to some reports, and the number is only expected to grow.

With several chatbots now available to users — some, like Google’s Gemini, even integrated into their phone — Akkad believes the biggest and most important highlight of Meta AI is its accessibility.

“It’s already built into our apps, so there is no need to download or sign up for anything new — and it’s completely free and will stay that way,” he said.

That Meta AI is device agnostic and built directly into Meta’s apps is a “game-changer for AI adoption” because “it democratizes access to advanced AI tools, reaching not just the tech-savvy but also everyday users” in areas “where newer hardware may not be as widely available,” Akkad said.

Despite its many benefits, generative AI has been the subject of scrutiny over the spread of misinformation. Akkad said Meta is aware of the “concern around the risks of generative AI, especially when it comes to misinformation” and has “built Meta AI with safeguards to make it as helpful and responsible as possible.”

Some of measures include built-in filters that prevent the AI from generating harmful or misleading content. These are based on extensive tests conducted by Meta and the company is updating its AI models based on feedback and training every two weeks, he said.

Generative AI’s ability to manufacture realistic but fake images exacerbates its threat to truth and accuracy.

Akkad said that Meta makes sure “people can tell when something (an image) was created or edited using Meta AI by adding clear watermarks, hidden markers and metadata embedded within image files to ensure no one is trying to pass off the AI-generated images as real.”

The company is also working with regulators and policymakers to fulfill its goal of giving “people a tool they can trust — one that helps them create, learn, and connect with the things and people they care about — all while keeping safety and accuracy at the core,” said Akkad.

MANILA: Philippine authorities arrested around 100 people on Friday in a raid on a suspected online scam farm in Manila they said extorted victims.
The raid in the Makati financial district was part of a crackdown against online crime operators that often act under the guise of gaming firms.
Agents from the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, or PAOCC, and the National Bureau of Investigation, armed with assault rifles, surrounded two offices of a lending agency and arrested the suspects as they worked side-by-side at computers.
The suspects, many of them young Filipinos, allegedly sought out victims via TikTok and other social media, offering collateral-free loans of up to 25,000 pesos ($428).
Borrowers were charged 35 percent weekly interest and those who fell behind on payments were harassed, humiliated and threatened with having their personal information spread online, PAOCC director Gilberto Cruz told reporters at the scene.
“Some of those they harassed developed mental problems, others fell into depression, and there have even been some suicide incidents that occurred because of the harassment perpetrated by these people,” Cruz said.
The suspects could be charged with fraud and other violations under the country’s cybercrime laws, he added. The raided company, Wewill Tech Corp., required victims to provide personal information and family photographs, which the scammers then used for threats, according to Cruz.
Some victims of similar scams have reported having coffins and funeral wreaths delivered to their homes, he said.
Authorities are checking the nationality of the owners, Cruz said, adding that they had arrested Chinese suspects running similar operations in the past.
The scam farm owners are suspected to be remnants of online gaming operators that were banned under orders of President Ferdinand Marcos last year, he said.
“Most of their keyboard workers are Filipino” and communicated with victims in the local language, Cruz told reporters.
“What is frightening here is it is Filipinos who are harassing and defrauding their fellow Filipinos,” he said.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has tagged Southeast Asia as “ground zero” of global scamming operations that the authorities say are run mainly by Chinese-origin crime organizations.