Middle East offers strong market for AI content dubbing

LONDON — The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is an “enticing” market in which to use artificial intelligence (AI) to translate and dub foreign-made video content — including news or entertainment — into Arabic to reach wider audiences in the region, said Amir Jirbandey, head of growth and marketing at the UK-based AI start-up Papercup. 

This is due to Arabic being widely spoken and the strong appetite for digital media given the region's young population, Jirbandey told Al-Monitor.

Founded in 2017, Papercup uses AI to dub content into other languages to help it reach wider audiences. The technology can help companies save money by translating content themselves rather than investing heavily into building audiences in the region right out of the gate, Jirbandey said. The company works with organizations such as media and entertainment companies as well as content creators on YouTube.

He said the MENA market is “really enticing” for companies like his because there is a robust appetite for digital content in the region and much of it can be understood in one dialect.