AUS becomes hub for Arabic language, AI, and digital heritage with UNESCO Chair

The American University of Sharjah (AUS) is the only university in the world which now hosts a UNESCO Chair in Arabic Language, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Heritage.

AUS signed an agreement with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation under the patronage of Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, President and Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of AUS to establish the position.

The Chair will support cultural preservation through high-tech solutions, expanding access to Arabic language and heritage while strengthening scholarship, skills development and community participation.

“Arabic carries the memory of a region, its ideas, its poetry and its everyday voices,” said Dr Tod A. Laursen, Chancellor of AUS. “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.”

Objectives

The Chair’s objectives include:

• Preserving and providing access to Arab cultural and linguistic heritage by collecting, digitising and curating artefacts, including endangered Arabic dialects, through innovative digital tools and multilingual metadata standards.

• Advancing interdisciplinary research at the intersection of Arabic studies, AI and digital humanities by integrating AI, machine learning and digital tools to produce scholarly publications, open-access resources and new approaches to contemporary debates in Arab societies.

• Strengthening cross-regional collaboration by developing open-access digital projects with institutions in the Arab States, Africa and Asia-Pacific and with UNESCO networks, while engaging youth and communities in digital storytelling and heritage initiatives.

• Building regional capacity by establishing a training platform offering workshops, certification programmes and opportunities for early-career scholars, media professionals and cultural practitioners to develop skills and share research.

• Working closely with UNESCO, other UNESCO Chairs and the University Twinning and Networking Programme (UNITWIN) networks on relevant programmes and activities.

“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,” said Irakli Khodeli, Chief of Management of Social Transformations (MOST) and Foresight Section, Sciences Sector, UNESCO.