Sharjah advances cultural heritage preservation through AI-powered initiatives.
Sharjah: The American University of Sharjah (AUS) has become the only university worldwide to host a UNESCO Chair dedicated to Arabic Language, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Heritage, marking a significant step towards preserving Arab cultural and linguistic heritage through emerging technologies.
The university signed an agreement with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to establish the Chair under the patronage of Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, President and Chairperson of the AUS Board of Trustees.
The initiative aims to harness advanced digital technologies to safeguard Arabic language and cultural heritage, improve access to historical resources and promote research, professional training and community engagement.
By combining traditional scholarship with AI and digital humanities, the Chair will also help preserve endangered dialects, digitise cultural archives and develop accessible resources for future generations.
Dr Tod A. Laursen, Chancellor of AUS, highlighted the importance of protecting the region’s linguistic and cultural identity in an increasingly digital world.
“Arabic carries the memory of a region, its ideas, its poetry and its everyday voices,” he said.
“When archives remain undigitised or dialects go undocumented, heritage becomes harder to reach and easier to lose. This UNESCO Chair will unite rigorous Arabic scholarship with responsible AI and digital humanities to preserve, curate and open new pathways to Arab cultural and linguistic heritage at scale, while training people who can carry this work forward.
“It reflects the Emirate of Sharjah’s enduring commitment to culture and knowledge, and it positions AUS to contribute meaningful research, accessible digital resources and regional capacity that serve communities across the Arab world and beyond.”
Key objectives of the UNESCO Chair
The newly established Chair will focus on several strategic priorities aimed at strengthening Arabic language preservation, research and digital innovation.
- Preserving Arab cultural and linguistic heritage: Collecting, digitising and documenting cultural artefacts, historical records and endangered Arabic dialects using advanced digital technologies and multilingual metadata standards to make them more accessible.
- Advancing research in Arabic studies and AI: Encouraging interdisciplinary research that combines Arabic language studies, artificial intelligence, machine learning and digital humanities to produce academic publications, open-access resources and fresh perspectives on contemporary issues affecting Arab societies.
- Expanding international collaboration: Developing accessible digital heritage projects with institutions across the Arab States, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, alongside UNESCO networks, while involving young people and local communities in digital storytelling and cultural preservation activities.
- Developing regional expertise: Establishing a dedicated training platform offering workshops, professional certification programmes and research opportunities for emerging academics, journalists, media professionals and cultural practitioners.
- Strengthening cooperation with UNESCO networks: Working with UNESCO, other UNESCO Chairs and the University Twinning and Networking Programme (UNITWIN) to support joint research, educational initiatives and knowledge-sharing activities.
Ensuring Arabic has a stronger role in the AI era
UNESCO officials emphasised the growing importance of ensuring that Arabic remains widely represented as artificial intelligence and large language models transform communication, education and access to knowledge.
Irakli Khodeli, Chief of the Management of Social Transformations (MOST) and Foresight Section in UNESCO’s Sciences Sector, said technological advances have made language an increasingly important factor in shaping societies.
“With the unprecedented speed and scale of advancement and use of AI, especially Large Language Models, language is playing a critical role in the way technology is transforming societies. We must ensure that the Arabic language, used daily by more than 500 million people, is fully contributing to and benefiting from these transformations.
“This is the aim of UNESCO and its Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Programme for the Arabic Language, and we are delighted to join forces with the newly launched UNESCO Chair in Arabic Language, AI and Digital Heritage to reinforce the role of Arabic as a global language of culture, science and innovation,” Khodeli said.
