E93 - Christophe Zoghbi - Spreading Accessible AI Education Across the MENA Region

Can you blame someone for not knowing something that you deem important?

When it comes down to it, is the individual truly at fault or is there something bigger to blame?

As the hype continuously increases surrounding Artificial Intelligence, we all know that it will play a huge role in the future. It already is!?

But, as with everything new, some people are bound to get left behind…

Is AI education accessible?

Meet Christophe Zoghbi

Christophe’s Role as an Artificial Intelligence Leader at Zaka

Christophe Zoghbi is the Founder and CEO of Zaka. Zaka is on a journey to democratise Artificial Intelligence in both the MENA region and globally through sharing knowledge, building solutions, and connecting people. They are a remote, community-driven AI company designed to be an inclusive guide for organisations and individuals into Artificial Intelligence. They aim to nurture a diverse AI community by encouraging everyone to give back locally.

Christophe’s Other Work in the Artificial Intelligence World

Besides his work with Zaka, Christophe is also the Founder and President of Beirut AI, a Lebanese non-profit organisation working since 2017 on enabling everyone to have access to the tools and knowledge to apply Artificial Intelligence. Here, Christophe and his team have helped their community explore the impacts of AI, find jobs, engage with others, and develop projects, and they continue to do so by hosting various events, including their AI Bootcamp, AI Weekend, hackathons, and university workshops.?

Meanwhile, Christophe is a contributor to The AI Journal, writing on AI and AI education. He is also a Visiting Lecturer at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, responsible for designing and teaching an "Introduction to Data Science & Artificial Intelligence" course within the MBA Financial Engineering Program.

AI education, AI communities, and the MENA region

In this exclusive analytics podcast episode, Christophe shares:

• His volunteering experience at CITY.AI and what they're trying to achieve with AI education
• What's different about CITY.AI's AI education events compared to other AI events
• His role as the Founder and CEO of Zaka and how it was founded
• What he hopes to achieve for the AI community in MENA region through Zaka
• The challenges the MENA region faces in spreading AI education
• The key drivers in countries further ahead in their AI journey
• How written and spoken language in the MENA region affects their AI education
• How to make AI education more accessible in the MENA region
• The unique parts of the AI community in the MENA region
• Whether there is a future of collaboration in AI between the MENA region and other parts of the world
• His issue with AI education in universities and how the educational system in the MENA region compares to other regions
• The best place to start exploring MENA region's Ai offerings

If you are an AI educator or a decision-maker looking to improve the AI education in your region or in your company, this is the episode you do not want to miss out on.?

More Links:

Find out more about Christophe

LinkedIn:

• https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/christophezoghbi/??

What is one book that he would gift to his younger self:?

• Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman: Adventures of a Curious Character as Told to Ralph Leighton by Richard P Feynman
• https://www.amazon.com.au/Surely-Youre-Joking-Feynman-Adventures/dp/009917331X/?

Twitter:?

• https://twitter.com/kristoffzoghbi?

Company Website:?

• https://zaka.ai/
• https://beirutai.org/?

Interviews:?

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoP6r0QTSRg
• https://podcasts.apple.com/lb/podcast/episode-24-artificial-intelligence-with-christophe/id1104788844?i=1000464456629?

Speaking Events:?

• https://gbsn.org/events/artificial-intelligence-opportunities-challenges-and-ethics/?
• https://mexeen.com/courses/228/using-ai-as-a-transformation-strategy-?
• https://leadersbootcamp.me/meet-the-leaders/?
• https://www.kr.inf.uc3m.es/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AI4SE-Chami.pdf?
• https://berytech.org/events/introduction-to-artificial-intelligence/?
• https://www.elegant-project.eu/mubs-ai-presentations?
• https://scsl.org.lb/event/recent-trends-in-artificial-intelligence-and-machine-learning/?
• https://www.mozillafestival.org/en/?

Publications:?

• https://github.com/kristoffzoghbi?
• https://aijourn.com/author/christophez/?
• https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/christophezoghbi/recent-activity/posts/?

In the News:?

• https://www.mynewsdesk.com/milestonesystems/pressreleases/croatian-startup-wins-milestone-community-kickstarter-contest-2021-3079669?
• https://www.rhu.edu.lb/media-room/news/rhu-webinar-explores-with-participants-how-to-begin-their-journey-in-artificial-intelligence?
• https://www.pressreader.com/lebanon/the-daily-star-lebanon/20181207/281590946642103?

Learn more with related episodes in our analytics podcast:

• E92 - Jamie Leach - Opening the Door to Innovation and Fairer Finances with Open Banking
• E88 - Neil Glentworth - Data for Social and Community Benefits
• E86 - Aleksandar Linc-Djordjevic - Changing The Underappreciated Data Science Scene of Europe
• E28 - Sanjit Dang - Investing in Artificial Intelligence for Tomorrow

Now a word from our sponsor…

This episode is sponsored by a new program at Data Driven Analytics. It’s an embedded analytics leader program for senior managers and executives in the business team who want to integrate AI into daily business operations and drive customer experience excellence. Book an Unlimited Strategy Session for a Full Year and start embedding analytics into the business frontlines. For more information about this program, please refer to it here.

#DataScience #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Community #AI Education #Education