Future Beat: The latest tech and innovation news

Hello there,
Greetings from Riyadh. That’s where the Leap technology conference took place this week, and from where we’re bringing you this edition of Future Beat.
It’s the third Leap conference to take place in Saudi Arabia, and given the 100,000-plus attendance, the wall-to-wall booths featuring start-ups from around the world, and the long list of big-tech speakers, it shows no sign of slowing down.
For the Middle East and North Africa, the latest technology boom – much of it fuelled by artificial intelligence – is proving to be a moment when reparation meets opportunity.
There has been endless talk about a post-oil economy and diversification, and AI is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.
The main difference between this particular technology and investment boom and previous ones is that it seems to know no geographic boundaries.
There are billions of dollars worth of AI investments in the Middle East, and a lot more to come.
It’s more than just a flash in the pan. It’s something with staying power and opportunity, which is exactly what technology should be giving us.

Cody Combs

Future Editor

The Big Story
In brief | A few peculiar things happened this week that showed social media platforms, despite taking a back seat to AI in terms of media coverage, can still command plenty of attention.
On Tuesday, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads, experienced a colossal power cut affecting millions of users around the world.
For all the talk about Facebook being passé, users definitely noticed their inability to log on to the platform, and hilarity ensued when they went to places like X (formerly Twitter) to express their anger.
Later in the week, as more than 100,000 filled the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Centre for the Leap conference, another moment showed why social platforms still hold significant power.
For all the announcements and new tech products on display at Leap, a social media platform, TikTok, stole the show when its chief executive, Shou Zi Chew, packed the main auditorium.
Besides commenting on Joe Biden’s relatively new presence on the platform, and Mr Chew’s reiteration of TikTok’s efforts to keep the platform safe, he didn’t say anything earth-shattering.
Yet, it didn’t matter – he had the attention of the room.
Why it matters | Social media companies are no longer the plucky up-and-comers, and while AI is dominating much of the technology conversation, the sun is not yet setting on the more established platforms.
At the end of the day, technology is still about the shared user experience. We want to share photos, videos and ideas with one another.
We want to be enriched by each other’s experiences, and social media companies are still very much at the heart of that desire.
Quoted | “The most important thing for us is that the product is fulfilling the mission … to inspire creativity and create joy”
– Shou Zi Chew, chief executive of TikTok
Nice shot | Will this smart basketball hoop prove to be a game changer?
Of Coursera | Why learning platform Coursera’s chief executive says the Middle East is ready for AI
IPO-ready | Etihad Airways is preparing for a potential listing – a first for a major Gulf airline
Chatbot wars | Is Anthropic’s new chatbot Claude 3 a worthy rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT?
At technology conferences such as Leap, there are often items on display that break the tried-and-true mould.
An AI picture frame, from China-based company LAiPIC, was one of those items.
Crowds gathered around its booth to see the many iterations of the frame, which allows people to create interactive photos that hang on a wall, speak, move and respond to questions or commands.
This is a signal: Yes, there’s the germ of a good idea here, even if you find it to be somewhat strange.
Will we all have an AI-powered picture frame in our homes? It’s unlikely, but that’s not really the point.
The big takeaway here is that we’re about to witness an array of AI goods, services and appliances.
Remember the initial World Wide Web boom which gave us a seemingly endless stream of web-based offshoot products? We’re at that phase with AI.
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