Saudi Tawakkalna App Resolves Technical Issues

A technical issue prevented access to the Tawakalna application in Saudi Arabia.
A technical issue prevented access to the Tawakalna application in Saudi Arabia.
TT

Saudi Tawakkalna App Resolves Technical Issues

A technical issue prevented access to the Tawakalna application in Saudi Arabia.
A technical issue prevented access to the Tawakalna application in Saudi Arabia.

Registered users in Saudi Arabia can now access the Tawakkalna application to prove their health status before entering public places.

The Tawakkalna management announced on Friday night that the technical issue that restricted access to the app during the past days was resolved.

“The app is working properly, and users can use it to show their health condition during their visits to government departments, shops, and malls,” it said.

“Work is also in progress to restore all features, such as Covid-19 Test Booking. Digital identities, Dashboard, and others," it added.

Tawakkalna is the official application approved by the Saudi Ministry of Health to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Further, the Tawakkalna management highlighted that under the supervision of a highly qualified Saudi team, the app worked properly and did not encounter any technical issues since its launch on May 11, 2020.

The management said that the app's services were efficiently and effectively provided to over 9.7 million users even in moments of high numbers of registration. It is also noteworthy that the number of registered users jumped to 12.5 million (%22.5 increase) in only three days.

Sign-ins' attempts reached 250 million in the past few days due to the requirement of showing the Health Condition via Tawakkalna to enter worksites, shops, and malls.

This increase caused an overload and instability; however, quick and temporary alternative solutions were provided, as text messages containing information about users' health conditions that were sent to Tawakkalna users.

Tawakkalna management thanked all users for their understanding of this technical problem, and it urged them to update the app.

In support of the Kingdom's efforts to respond to COVID-19, the management also emphasized that it will continue providing high-quality services to all citizens and residents.

The app, launched last year to help track Covid-19 infections, has seen a surge in registrations in recent days as a number of regional governors called for establishments to put stricter entry restrictions in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus.



Meta Develops Own AI Search Engine to Cut Reliance on Google, Bing, the Information Reports

The Meta logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris, France, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (AP)
The Meta logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris, France, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (AP)
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Meta Develops Own AI Search Engine to Cut Reliance on Google, Bing, the Information Reports

The Meta logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris, France, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (AP)
The Meta logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris, France, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (AP)

Meta Platforms is working on an artificial intelligence-based search engine as it looks to reduce dependence on Alphabet's Google and Microsoft's Bing, the Information reported on Monday.
The AI search engine segment is heating up with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Google and Microsoft all vying for dominance in the rapidly evolving market, according to Reuters.
Meta's web crawler will provide conversational answers to users about current events on Meta AI, the company's chatbot on WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, according to the report, which cited a person involved with the strategy.
The Facebook-owner currently relies on Google and Bing search engines to give users answers on news, stocks and sports.
Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Google is aggressively integrating its latest and most powerful AI model, Gemini, into core products like Search, aiming to deliver more conversational and intuitive search experiences.
OpenAI relies on its largest investor, Microsoft, for web access to answer topical queries, using its Bing search engine.
Scraping web data to train AI models and search engines, however, has raised concerns about copyright infringement and fair compensation for content creators.