Abou ElElla: Egypt has a strong opportunity to be a global center for developing artificial intelligence

Wael Abou ElElla, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Go Chat 247 for Outsourcing Services, believes that Egypt has a great opportunity to be a regional or global center for developing systems based on artificial intelligence.

Abou ElElla said in an interview with the Ta3Heed newsletter that the company is currently working on developing a number of artificial intelligence models for its clients outside Egypt.

He also called for the expansion of programs and initiatives for training in artificial intelligence so that human cadres are ready to develop and invest in this industry.

How do you see the outsourcing market in Egypt?

The outsourcing industry is one of the industries that most needs support, as it is a labor-intensive industry and the human element plays an important role in it.

Egypt is also characterized by the density of human resources, which represents an important resource for companies in the outsourcing industry, whether local or international.

After liberalizing the exchange rate during the past years, Egypt’s competitive advantages as a destination for the outsourcing industry increased, and there was a diamond opportunity to increase Egypt’s dollar income through the outsourcing industry. On this basis, local companies in this industry demanded government facilities and support in the hope of increasing their expansion and increasing the volume of Egypt’s exports through call services. Center, which is a service that does not require complex rehabilitation processes for young people.

Also, supporting local companies with incentives helps improve the work environment, which attracts new international companies to Egypt.

Providing incentives to local companies to support the growth of their business volume and increase exports

What incentives do local businesses need?

There are many incentives that can be offered to Egyptian companies to support the growth of their businesses, which has a positive impact on digital exports.

The system must be treated as a work environment that is qualified to attract millions of dollars in investments, and not a real estate system that rents offices and collects money for them.

For example, local companies should not be billed in dollars if they rent or purchase workplaces in technology parks.

The experience of countries that preceded us in this industry must be extracted to exploit our human resources. For example, the Philippines has more than one million people working in this industry annually, and more than 30 billion annual incomes from the outsourcing industry alone.

Morocco is also working strongly to support this industry, as it is building call centers for companies in exchange for small rental rates to support them in employing more young people and increasing digital exports from the outsourcing industry.

How do we get past this now?

If we have fallen behind in call center services, now we have a golden opportunity in providing outsourcing services using artificial intelligence technologies.

How can artificial intelligence contribute to supporting the exports of the outsourcing industry?

Artificial Intelligence is completely changing the way the outsourcing industry works, providing creative tools that are significantly closer to people in all their specialties.

For us in Egypt, it is a strong opportunity because it is in its infancy, and we will have ample opportunities to be a leader in this field at the regional and global levels.

But AI applications must be generally accessible to users.

There must be an Egyptian model of artificial intelligence programs based on global applications for artificial intelligence such as “ChatGPT” to give it a local character, especially since it relies primarily on feeding data to be able to develop.

Indeed, there are many countries in the world that have begun to create the local version of the application of artificial intelligence, such as Indonesia and India.

We must expand the launch of youth training programs on artificial intelligence, especially since it is an industry that requires, at its beginning, extensive human resources to train the application in a local manner, in addition to testing the application to improve its experience.

There is a strong opportunity for us to be the center for developing artificial intelligence applications at the regional and global levels.

There is a strong competitive advantage for Egypt in prices, compared to international markets, which range between $150 and $200, and may reach $1,000 in some specializations and rare languages, but it is still competitive compared to global markets, which may reach $3,000.

I think we need to deal with this file as a national project.

Does Egypt have the appropriate infrastructure to transform it into a regional and global center for artificial intelligence?

Of course, in recent years, Egypt has developed its communications and infrastructure infrastructure in a strong and tangible way.

Perhaps the Corona pandemic is the best evidence for this, as despite the closure, business did not stop, and outsourcing companies did not face any challenges in providing their services during the closure period with the implementation of the work-from-home policy, unlike the Philippines, which faced paralysis in these services.

GO Chat 247 is expanding its AI model development services

So why isn’t your company working on developing an artificial intelligence model for the outsourcing industry?

Indeed, we have begun developing a model based on artificial intelligence that has been strongly trained to provide some services for the outsourcing industry via chat, and we have begun launching trial versions for some entities, including the Chamber of Information Technology Industry and an Emirati company.

We also developed an artificial intelligence system that can see and understand a screenshot image, monitor what is in it, and respond to it.