The Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC), part of the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), has signed an agreement with New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) to develop the Balanced Arabic Readability Evaluation Corpus (BAREC), a digital platform for assessing readability in Arabic using machine learning. The new project forms part of the Centre’s strategy to enable Arabic language content and technologies creation and promotion.

His Excellency Dr. Ali bin Tamim, Chairman of the ALC, said: “This project efficiently leverages technological advancements and artificial intelligence to serve our strategic goals at the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, where we strive to enrich Arabic language content in the digital space. It also supports scientific efforts with analytical and descriptive characteristics related to the use of the Arabic language, practically linking them to readers according to scientific classifications related to age and cognitive abilities., in addition to providing tools to assist researchers and writers to use language effectively and make the most of its capabilities as a means of communication.”

The ALC Chairman stressed that Emirati culture will be given priority in the materials used by the project to create its linguistic repository. This includes children’s literature in its narrative, poetic, and theatrical forms, either written by well-known Emirati authors or having received prestigious Emirati awards. “In general, the project will avoid any unreliable or marginal inputs to ensure the linguistic repository is free from terms that do not align with the refined Arab culture that we strive to enhance,” H.E. said.

“I am excited about our collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre on the development of the Balanced Arabic Readability Evaluation Corpus (BAREC) through cutting-edge machine learning. This partnership aligns perfectly with NYUAD's mission to contribute significantly to the development of and access to Arabic content and technology to facilitate that. By combining our efforts, we are taking a significant step towards enriching the linguistic landscape of the region and beyond," said Petters.

The BAREC project will be led by a team of researchers and experts from NYUAD, Zayed University and the ALC. The Principal Investigator is Prof. Nizar Habash, NYUAD Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Computational Approaches to Modeling Language (CAMeL) Lab, a leading research group on Arabic Artificial Intelligence. Prof. Hanada Taha, Director of the ZAI Centre at Zayed University, will work closely on the development of the project as the Co-Prinicipal Investigator.