Sharjah launches UNESCO Chair to bring Arabic heritage into the AI age
American University of Sharjah is establishing a new UNESCO Chair in Arabic Language, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Heritage, bringing technology and cultural scholarship together to preserve Arabic heritage and make it more accessible.
The university has signed an agreement with UNESCO under the patronage of Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, President and Chairperson of the AUS Board of Trustees. AUS will be the only university worldwide to host a UNESCO Chair combining these three fields.
Its work will extend from digitising cultural collections to documenting endangered Arabic dialects, while helping researchers, cultural professionals and communities develop the skills to carry that work forward.
Preserving the voices behind the language
At the heart of the initiative is a concern about what can disappear when cultural records remain inaccessible or linguistic traditions go undocumented.
“Arabic carries the memory of a region, its ideas, its poetry and its everyday voices,” said Dr Tod A. Laursen, Chancellor of AUS.
The chair will support the collection, digitisation and curation of Arab cultural and linguistic heritage, including endangered dialects. Digital tools and multilingual descriptions will help organise these materials and make them easier to discover and study.
For Laursen, the project connects Sharjah’s commitment to culture and knowledge with practical research, accessible resources and training that can serve communities across the Arab world.
Giving Arabic a stronger place in emerging technology
The programme will bring together Arabic studies, AI and digital humanities, supporting research that uses machine learning and other digital tools to explore language and culture.
Planned outcomes include scholarly publications, open-access resources and new approaches to contemporary debates within Arab societies.
Irakli Khodeli, who leads UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformations and Foresight Section, highlighted the importance of Arabic participating fully in technological change, particularly as large language models become more influential.
He noted that Arabic is used daily by more than 500 million people. The chair will contribute to UNESCO’s wider work to strengthen its role as a language of culture, science and innovation.
Training the people who will carry the work forward
The initiative will also establish a regional training platform offering workshops, certification programmes and opportunities for early-career scholars.
Media professionals and cultural practitioners will be able to develop skills and share research, connecting academic work with the people who document and communicate culture.
Young people and local communities will participate through digital storytelling and heritage projects, giving the programme a public role alongside its research responsibilities.
Building connections from Sharjah
The chair will develop open-access digital projects with institutions across the Arab States, Africa and Asia-Pacific, working with UNESCO and its international university networks.
Within AUS, it will draw on the Center for Arab Studies and Islamic Civilisations and expertise across university departments.
The Department of Arabic and Translation Studies will contribute knowledge in linguistics, literature, Islamic studies, translation, interpretation and teaching Arabic as a foreign language.
Together, these disciplines give the chair a foundation for work that connects cultural preservation with contemporary technology—and makes the resulting knowledge available beyond the university.
