Israel is investing around 30 million shekels (approx. $7.8 million) to improve the ability of AI to understand Hebrew and Arabic.
The gap between existing capabilities for Hebrew and Arabic and more common languages – such as English – is significant. The Israel Innovation Authority will therefore be investing the money into 17 different projects in both academia and industry.
The approved projects include:
A transcription and summarization service for clinical and business applications, to be developed by Verbit, provider of highly accurate transcripts and captions;
A model that allows extraction of information from recorded audio, to be developed by Dr. Shai Fine from Reichman University;
A model that identifies harmful content in texts, to be developed by Dr. Haya Libskind from the Jerusalem College of Technology – Lev Academic Center; and
A model that analyzes medical texts written in a combination of Hebrew and English, to be developed by medtech manufacturer Briya in collaboration with several Israeli medical centers.
“In order to promote the integration of artificial intelligence into the Israeli high-tech industry and enable Israeli citizens to benefit from the fruits of this technology, we are keen to promote and advance activity in this area,” said Dror Bin, CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority.
“This program is crucial for realizing Israel’s unique data potential in Hebrew and Arabic, facilitating the adoption of artificial intelligence in the industry, and advancing innovation in Israel,” he said.
“These infrastructures will lead to significant and open applications for the benefit of Israeli residents and enable companies developing products in this field to sell both domestically and internationally.”
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