By Fr. Paul Samasumo and Sr. Nina Benedikta Krapić –– Lebanese Bishop Jules Boutros, who took part in the “Mediterranean Meetings 2023” …

By Radwan Radwan -- arabnews.com -- JEDDAH: In the coming years, artificial intelligence technology is expected to transform economies, business practices and the way people live, work and consume. Conscious of these potentially momentous changes on the horizon, Saudi Arabia is pouring investments into AI research and development. The Kingdom launched its National Strategy for Data and Artificial Intelligence in October 2020 aimed at becoming a global leader in the field, as it seeks to attract $20 billion in foreign and local investments by 2030. Saudi Arabia is also determined to future-proof its workforce, for a start by training and developing a pool of 20,000 AI and data specialists. Riyadh’s adoption of digitalization and emerging technologies is forecast to contribute some 2.4 percent to its gross domestic product by 2030, according to a recent report by global consultancy firm PwC.

In terms of average annual growth in the contribution of AI by region, Saudi Arabia is expected to grab a 31.3 percent share in the technology’s expansion between 2018 and 2030, the PwC report added. “I believe that Saudi Arabia has a huge potential,” Ali Al-Moussa, a Saudi entrepreneur and AI expert, told Arab News. “Being in the field for years now, I saw a lot of smart, talented people who are able to compete with (others around) the globe to create great technologies, not only artificial intelligence, but everything from robotics to blockchain, you name it.” Saudi Arabia’s drive toward new technologies aligns with the objectives of the Vision 2030 social reform and economic diversification agenda, which aims to strengthen the Kingdom’s position as the regional leader in the field.

By Vanessa Boumelhem --- catholicweekly.com -- While millions of young people gathered around the pope in the streets of Lisbon, Portugal for World Youth Day, a similar gathering took place in the streets of Lebanon, where thousands of Catholic youth unable to be in Portugal came together for their own celebrations. The event was organised by 300 volunteers from all different Catholic rites under the youth committee of the Assembly of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops of Lebanon. Under the World Youth Day theme, “Mary arose and went with haste,” Lebanese Catholic youth gathered for prayer, Eucharistic Adoration and catechesis, bringing forth a strong message of hope and faith in times of hardship and adversity. Though crisis-stricken and marred by worsening economic conditions, the youth were able to renew their hope and strengthen their faith, sending a message to Lebanese Catholics across the world.

This week, the Australian Maronite Catholic community welcomed our Patriarch, His Beatitude and Eminence, Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros Cardinal Rai, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, to Australia primarily to celebrate the Golden Jubilee Mass. He will also preside over the Sixth Congress of Maronite Bishops of Eparchies outside the Patriarchal Territory and General Superiors of Maronite Religious Orders. As the eparchy celebrates its golden jubilee, we recognise that this milestone has come as a result of the unwavering strength of the Lebanese Maronites, who have faced countless challenges in their past. Our eparchy was established after 100 years of Maronite presence in Australia, which grew prominent enough to support the need for Maronite priests and churches.

While the first Maronite Parish in Australia was established in 1897, the eparchy was not officially established until 1973. The Maronite community grew slowly in the early 1900s, but by the mid-1900s, emigration started again and the community began to grow rapidly, organising itself into village and family associations while assimilating into wider society. With this, the need for a life which better preserved and promoted Maronite Values and customs grew, eventually leading to the formation of the strong Maronite community in Australia today.

bt Bryson Masse - venturebeat -- AI’s carbon footprint is no open-and-shut case, according to scientists from the University of California-Irvine and MIT, who published a paper earlier this year on the open access site arXiv.org that shakes up energy use assumptions of generative AI models, and which set off a debate among leading AI researchers and experts this past week. The paper found that when producing a page of text, an AI system such as ChatGPT emits 130 to 1500 times fewer carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) compared to a human.

The paper concludes that the use of AI has the potential to accomplish several significant activities with significantly lower emissions than humans. However, an ongoing dialogue among AI researchers reacting to the paper this week also highlights how accounting for interactions between climate, society, and technology poses immense challenges warranting continual reexamination. From blockchain to AI models, environmental effects need to be measured In an interview with VentureBeat, the authors of the paper, University of California at Irvine professors Bill Tomlinson and Don Patterson, and MIT Sloan School of Management visiting scientist Andrew Torrance, offered some insight into what they were hoping to measure.

Originally published in March, Tomlinson said that the paper was submitted to the research journal Scientific Reports where it is currently under peer review. The study authors analyzed existing data on the environmental impact of AI systems, human activities, and the production of text and images. This information was collected from studies and databases that study how AI and humans affect the environment. For example, they used an informal, online estimate for ChatGPT based on traffic of 10 million queries generating roughly 3.82 metric tons of CO2e per day while also amortizing the training footprint of 552 metric tons of CO2e. As well, for further comparison, they included data from a low impact LLM called BLOOM. On the human side of things, they used both examples of the annual carbon footprints of average persons from the US (15 metric tons) and India (1.9 metric tons) to compare the different per-capita effects of emissions over an estimated amount of time it would take to write a page of text or create an image.