From Satellite TV to social media and now AI: How different tech revolutions shaped the Arab world

The potential impact of AI on the Arab world depends on several factors. There are specific areas where Arab societies may have different ideas about AI and its boundaries.

Nesma Moharam

Artificial intelligence has consequences for humanity on the scale of Columbus' discovery of America. But how will this powerful new technology impact the Arab world? Al Majalla explains.

From Satellite TV to social media and now AI: How different tech revolutions shaped the Arab world

Houssam Itani

last update on 22 Sep 2023

The Arab world is currently approaching uncharted territory, and what happens next could prove as transformational as one of the most significant moments in history: 1492, when Christopher Columbus arrived at America's shores.

The Italian sailor was not specifically looking for a new continent back then. He wanted to get to India by way of the West; his heart was set on finding a new trade route. He had no idea that what he had actually 'discovered' – the New World – would be so much more important. Neither did the rest of the Old World.

Columbus’s ships, the Santa Maria, the Niña and the Pinta, were moored off picturesque beaches, at the entrance to a place of ancient civilisations and new opportunities and riches. It was the start of a new chapter in human history.

In many ways, we are now arriving at a similar pivotal point in history, with the discovery of artificial intelligence. It, too, has the power to change everything in ways we cannot foresee.

For the Native Americans, the future that followed Columbus was bleak. Perhaps the unintended consequences of AI for humanity could be similarly dangerous.

Shutterstock — The Landing of Columbus, October 11, 1492, painting by Currier & Ives, 1846.

Impact of AI in the Arab world

The potential impact of AI on the Arab world depends on several factors. There will be fierce debates on how the technology will be used globally. Still, there are specific areas where Arab societies may have different ideas about AI and its boundaries.

There is still a profound influence from history and various cultural identities, including religious ones. All of them will inform the debate and discussion over AI.

It’s also important to note that Arab societies are forming and developing. Their level of “fluidity” – as defined by the Polish-British philosopher Zygmunt Bauman – is high. The social mobility of individuals and groups from one stratum to another is also high.

This means the overall impression of society and its political, economic, and cultural expressions is not fixed. That applies to how some states evolve, along with the groups that control political power, the media and the economy.

AI is not the first revolutionary force of recent years, so as we sketch out the future it may bring, the recent experience of other technological revolutions in the Arab world is valuable: The availability of satellite TV channels and the rise of social media.

The potential impact of AI on the Arab world depends on several factors. There are specific areas where Arab societies may have different ideas about AI and its boundaries.

Satellite revolution

Satellite channels arrived in the Arab world in the early 1990s, beaming in stations from the wider world.

The live coverage from CNN of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and then the war of liberation – together with the broadcast of footage of the Western bombing of Iraqi sites at the very moment that it was taking place – was more influential by far in the region than other major TV events, including the moon landings.

Satellite TV brought pivotal moments in history into Arab homes: The Second Palestinian Intifada, the 11 September attacks of 2001, and the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. This created a shared collective experience for Arabs in different parts of the Middle East.

Combo of TV grabs from France 2 footage of Israeli-Palestinian clashes in Netzarim in the Gaza Strip 30 September 2000 shows Jamal Al-Durra and his son Mohammad, 12, hiding behind a barrel from Israeli-Palestinian crossfire.

The factual coverage of the war brought events directly and unambiguously into homes and became part of everyday family life and social fabric. A few years later, satellite channels originating within the Arab world began to appear, and the impact of this new medium spread.

Entertainment content was no less important than that of news or politics. It's no exaggeration to say that many of the ideas still popular today came from when Arab satellite channels emerged.

Suddenly, Arabs discovered just how noisy life could be in some of their countries. Or that social emancipation isn't the same in all parts of the region.

However, they found that they could understand each other, using a modern standard Arabic language that transcended divisions of local dialects, making news channels widely available — especially if they carried a political narrative that differed from traditional state media.

Satellite TV brought pivotal moments in history into Arab homes: The Second Palestinian Intifada, the 11 September attacks of 2001, and the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. This created a shared collective experience for Arabs in different parts of the Middle East.

Social media

Then came social media, arriving a few years later, dominating public discourse on local and regional political and social issues.

There was a wave of adoption of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others, as people saw the immense potential of these platforms. They offered the chance to express views, however wild and strange, without being censored or prosecuted by the government.

Social media was an instrumental force in the Arab Spring. Through harnessing its power, it was able to gather the masses in city squares who called for political change.

Then, governments and politicians caught on to the power of social media. Even terrorists started using it to actively recruit thousands of young people to fight under the banners of extremism.

The impact of satellite television and social media on Arab societies is still being studied. There has been no consensus on the impact they have had on large segments of the population, the damage they have caused or the benefits they have produced.

AFP — A Tuareg tribeswoman uses a "selfie stick" to take a picture on a cell phone while attending a traditional ceremony in the Libyan desert in the western Awal region near the borders with Tunisia and Algeria.

The next tech revolution is here: AI

And so the next revolution arrives, and it has the potential to be even more powerful.

Some experts in Artificial Intelligence and some working in the field are convinced that technology directly threatens humanity. The self-learning capabilities of AI create the potential for it to surpass human capabilities and perhaps even to become independent of its creators.

AI is, in theory, capable of having its own values, judgement, and ideas. These will likely differ radically from those of humans. It's still unclear what level of "intelligence" it can reach.

Social media was an instrumental force in the Arab Spring. Through harnessing its power, it was able to gather the masses in city squares who called for political change.

For the Arab world, where traditions and culture still play a central role, AI could up-end traditional views on identity, religion, tribalism and other core social forces indigenous to the region.

AI will bring new information and new concepts into the public sphere. Without a clear regulatory framework, this could potentially create chaos.

Although the technology is still in its infancy, legal disputes are already erupting over its use. But the challenges that will come in the future will be much more daunting.

Here, it is important to circle back to Columbus.

There were, in fact, two significant moments in 1492. As well as the discovery of the New World, there was the fall of Granada, the last Arab stronghold on Europe's Iberian peninsula — the two events unfolded just a few months apart.

The 'discovery' of the American continent coincided with the end of the Arabs' Andalusian dream. It is still talked about to this day, and its old magic is still praised in song and verse.

And so the Arab world faces a choice amid the arrival of AI: Will it be a moment to embrace a new future or will it be a moment when paradise was lost?

History will be the final judge.

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