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Sara: Saudi Arabia's First Interactive Robot

Saudi Arabia unveils its first interactive robot at LEAP 2023. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia unveils its first interactive robot at LEAP 2023. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Sara: Saudi Arabia's First Interactive Robot

Saudi Arabia unveils its first interactive robot at LEAP 2023. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia unveils its first interactive robot at LEAP 2023. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Sara, Saudi Arabia's first interactive robot, welcomed attendees at LEAP 2023 conference, which was launched in Riyadh on Monday.

Sara was manufactured in cooperation between Saudi Digital and Qss Company. It can communicate with all visitors, interact with them, perform popular dance moves, and respond to visitors' inquiries.

The robot boasts a camera that works with artificial intelligence, can recognize the distance of people standing in front of it and starts dialogue after a visitor addresses it with the phrase "Hello Sara."

It also contains a pre-trained model that recognizes different Saudi dialects, analyses and understands sentences, then provides the appropriate answer and sends it in text.

The second edition of Leap 2023 was launched at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center under the theme "Towards New Horizons."

LEAP was organized by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in conjunction with Tahaluf, a strategic joint venture co-owned by Informa PLC and the Saudi Federation for Cyber Security and Programming (SAFCSP).

It aims to consolidate and strengthen the Kingdom's advanced position as a hub for technology and innovation in the region.

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Nvidia CEO Says Global Cooperation in Tech will Continue under Trump Administration

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang poses for a photo after receiving an honorary doctorate in engineering from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, in Hong Kong on November 23, 2024. (Photo by Holmes CHAN / AFP)
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang poses for a photo after receiving an honorary doctorate in engineering from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, in Hong Kong on November 23, 2024. (Photo by Holmes CHAN / AFP)
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Nvidia CEO Says Global Cooperation in Tech will Continue under Trump Administration

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang poses for a photo after receiving an honorary doctorate in engineering from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, in Hong Kong on November 23, 2024. (Photo by Holmes CHAN / AFP)
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang poses for a photo after receiving an honorary doctorate in engineering from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, in Hong Kong on November 23, 2024. (Photo by Holmes CHAN / AFP)

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on Saturday that global cooperation in technology will continue even if the incoming US administration imposes stricter export controls on advanced computing products.
US President-elect Donald Trump, in his first term in office, imposed restrictions on the sale of US technology to China citing national security - a policy continued under President Joe Biden. The curbs forced Nvidia, the world's leading maker of chips used for artificial intelligence applications, to change its product lineup in China.
"Open science in global collaboration, cooperation across math and science has been around for a very long time. It is the foundation of social advancement and scientific advancement," Huang told media during a visit to Hong Kong.
Cooperation is "going to continue. I don't know what's going to happen in the new administration, but whatever happens, we'll balance simultaneously compliance with laws and policies, continue to advance our technology and support and serve customers all over the world."
The head of the world's most valuable company was speaking in the financial hub after receiving an honorary doctorate in engineering from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Reuters reported.
During the visit, Huang participated in a fireside chat with the university's Council Chairman Harry Sham in front of an audience of students and academics.
Asked about the huge energy requirements of graphics processing units - chips behind artificial intelligence - Huang said, "If the world uses more energy to power the AI factories of the world, we are a better world when that happens".
Huang said "the goal of AI is not for training, the goal of AI is for inference". He said AI can discover, for instance, new ways to store carbon dioxide in reservoirs, new wind turbine designs and new materials for storing electricity.
He said people should start thinking about placing AI supercomputers slightly off the power grid and let them use sustainable energy and in places away from populations.
"My hopes and dreams is that in the end, what we all see is that using energy for intelligence is the best use of energy we can imagine," Huang said.
Earlier on Saturday, Huang told graduates that "the age of AI has started" in a speech after receiving the honorary degree.
"A new computing era that will impact every industry and every field of science."