Page 177 - MBRF PR REPORT - May 2024

Highlighting the significance of MBRF’s participation in ADIBF 2024, His Excellency
Jamal bin Huwaireb, CEO of the MBRF, pointed out the Foundation’s contribution
towards advancing science, disseminating knowledge, promoting a culture of reading,
and nurturing literary and intellectual creativity.

“The MBRF’s participation in the event comes as part of its relentless efforts to
encourage sharing knowledge across Arab countries and provide a comprehensive
platform for book lovers and scholars to learn about current intellectual and literary
works and publications. The pavilion showcases a diverse range of publications
focusing on many fields. Furthermore, it will provide a venue for other events and
activities, including seminars, lectures, workshops, and discussions with renowned Arab
authors and thinkers,” His Excellency added.

The pavilion, located in Hall 10-D06, will further host a variety of events under the
‘KnowTalks’, a series jointly organized by the MBRF and the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) to underscore best global practices and experiences
in addressing environmental challenges, water crises, climate issues, and strategies for
promoting green investments.

His Excellency Jamal bin Huwaireb presented a knowledge session titled ‘Poetry and
Artificial Intelligence.’ The session was held under the ‘Bil Arabi’ initiative, which was
launched by the MBRF in 2013 to encourage the use of the Arabic language. During the
session, His Excellency noted that the UAE and Saudi Arabia had outpaced many other
countries in the field of AI. He further underlined that poetry would survive the
development of AI because it has an advantage over machines. In addition, he pointed
out that one of the key aspects that sets humans apart from machines is their capability
for reasoning and deduction.

The ‘KnowTalks’ series hosted a panel discussion titled ‘AI for All: Innovating with
Inclusiveness in Mind,’ which was presented by Yasmine Hamdar, AI Policy Specialist,
UNDP. The discussion focused on the negative impact of AI systems on social life and
the machines’ ability to mimic human behaviors like thinking, learning, and decision-
making.

In addition, the discussion highlighted the potential of AI in helping to mitigate global
issues such as poverty and hunger eradication, pest monitoring, water resource
management, climate change adaptation, social cohesion, and reducing inequalities
among societies and individuals. The panel also assessed the key principles required to
develop a human rights-based framework in the ethics of AI. The framework will cover
various areas including proportionality and non-harm, safety, and security, the right to
privacy and data protection, multi-stakeholder engagement, adaptive governance and
collaboration, responsibility and accountability, transparency and explainability, human
oversight and rigor, awareness and literacy, fairness and non-discrimination, principles
of AI governance, and AI for sustainable development.

The pavilion, in line with the ‘Knowledge Lounge’ project, set the stage for the launch of
‘the Friendliness of Tunisia’, a book authored by Nada El-Sayed Muait, as the result of

https://www.albawaba.com/business/pr/mbrf-highlights-wide-array-knowledge-programs-abu-
dhabi-international-book-fair-1564238