https://arab.news/pw7uk
JEDDAH: Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance Dr. Abdullatif Al-Alsheikh met Malian Minister of Religious Affairs Mohammed Omar Kony on Thursday.
They discussed means to boost cooperation in serving Islam and Muslims, and ways to combat extremism in all its forms.
RIYADH: Once the preserve of the rich and famous, personal styling services are now accessible to everyone thanks to strides in generative artificial intelligence, helping shoppers find the look best suited to their body or special occasion.
With its latest creation, Amira, Riyadh-based AI-powered fashion marketplace Taffi is revolutionizing the shopping experience across the Middle East and North Africa, while showcasing how AI is redefining consumer engagement.
A personal stylist powered by generative AI and machine learning, Amira’s advanced algorithms, trained on a comprehensive dataset inspired by the Middle East’s latest fashion trends, delivers personalized and trend-driven styling recommendations.
Launched in September, Amira has been trained by a network of more than 180 expert fashion stylists from across the region. These professionals have contributed tens of thousands of recommendations, reflecting local tastes and cultural preferences.
Taffi co-founder and CEO Shahad Geoffrey described Amira as “the best friend who knows your style better than you do, eliminating all the guesswork in shopping.”
The AI stylist “engages users at every relevant touchpoint along their shopping journey to help them make better and faster decisions,” she added.
Amira’s search assistant allows users to find complete styles directly from the store’s search box, eliminating the need to sift through irrelevant items. The AI stylist’s discovery assistant recommends relevant new products, while the product stylist pairs items with complementary upsell suggestions.
Geoffrey said that Taffi’s AI stylist “is available through a floating chat widget for conversational commerce,” providing “real-time expert advice and tailored shoppable style recommendations based on individual profiles and preferences to help customers quickly find their best styles via their natural language.”
The AI technology customizes the shopping experience to each customer’s individual needs and preferences, turning it into an assisted commerce journey.
This innovation is revolutionizing how shoppers discover new products, find purpose-driven outfits and complete tasks more efficiently — saving time, offering trusted recommendations and providing access to great deals.
“AI delivers real-time, hyper-personalized suggestions based on style preferences, lifestyle, size, physical attributes, budgets and existing wardrobe,” Geoffrey said. “It also inspires shoppers by offering ideas for mixing and matching outfits and exploring new trends.
“By reducing choice overload and creating customized product bundles based on user queries, AI ensures a more enjoyable, efficient and seamless shopping journey.”
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Saudi Arabia’s fashion industry is expected to see cumulative annual growth of 48 percent from 2021 to 2025 as the Kingdom diversifies its economy, according to a 2024 report by the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority.
The report also highlighted that the total value of the fashion sector in Saudi Arabia, including international brands, was $24.6 billion in 2022.
Taffi’s Amira was born from Geoffrey’s own frustration with the endless sea of fashion choices and the “static, impersonal shopping experiences.
“I always dreamed of having a virtual fashion assistant that truly understood my needs and preferences, finding personalized clothing effortlessly,” she said.
“Taffi was born to bring that vision to life, empowering shoppers with an AI fashion assistant that simplifies the shopping journey, making it seamless to discover and find outfits and tailor experiences to their unique preferences.”
Founded in 2021 by Geoffrey and Pradeep Bisht, the AI-powered fashion-focused shopping platform uses machine-learning, ChatGPT-4 and generative AI to provide users with styling recommendations based on their preferences, occasion and budget.
According to the company’s figures, users who engaged with Taffi had a 15 percent sales conversion rate — compared to just 0.67 percent for those who did not. This resulted in a 22-fold increase in sales conversions.
Additionally, Geoffrey highlighted that the average order value for purchases made through Taffi was 55 percent higher than those made without the platform
This success underscores the challenges in today’s e-commerce landscape. Originally designed decades ago to sell books, e-commerce has become an outdated experience.
Fashion e-commerce, in particular, has struggled to evolve beyond a generic shopping journey filled with impersonal choices, causing 75 percent of shoppers to leave sites without making a purchase. In fact, just 1-2 percent of visitors ever convert into buyers.
Frustrated customers often receive no response from overwhelmed customer support teams and return items at alarming rates. This creates a cycle of dissatisfaction for consumers while putting businesses under strain.
Amira, however, has received positive feedback from brands that have integrated the widget into their platforms.
Geoffrey said customers have described Amira as an innovative and highly useful feature for e-commerce, noting that it has significantly uplifted their brand image and dramatically enhanced the customer experience.
She predicts that AI will reshape the fashion industry by designing garments, streamlining manufacturing processes, enabling smarter inventory management and driving greater sustainability in fashion.
“AI will also transform the shopping experience — from discovery to checkout — empowering brands to cater to diverse markets, optimize supply chains, and elevate the retail experience with innovations like virtual try-ons and real-time fashion assistants,” she said.
Moreover, “AI enables brands to drive higher revenue, significantly reduce costs and enhance key business performance metrics, paving the way for a more prosperous, inclusive and efficient fashion industry.
“AI has immense potential to shape and revolutionize the fashion industry, spanning from retail to supply chain and manufacturing. What we see in AI today is just the beginning — a mere drop in the ocean.”
RIYADH: Roshn Front is set to be the focus for all things artistic over the coming weeks as the sixth annual Tuwaiq Sculpture Symposium opened on Wednesday under the theme “From Then to Now: Joy in the Struggle of Making.”
According its curators, Sebastian Betancur-Montoya and Dr. Manal Al-Harbi, the event, which runs until Feb. 8, is a celebration of the artist’s journey — the joy, struggle and fulfillment that comes with the act of creation.
“I approach the curation from a place of exploration and understanding the idea of the symposium as a place to share knowledge and to produce knowledge,” Betancur-Montoya told Arab News.
“We are working with artists. They work with their hands, with their forms, with their shapes and (these are) the type of experiences and knowledge and things we’re producing here from that perspective.
“I’m interested in the processes of how things and ideas come about. Stone requires a technique and each artist approaches the boulder or the block of stone in a different way, so one of the first things that came to mind was ‘how do we make this visible?’”
Tuwaiq Sculpture focuses not only on the final creations but the creative, physical and intellectual process behind them.
Betancur-Montoya draws inspiration from Albert Camus’ “The Myth of Sisyphus,” an essay which ends with the line: “one must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
Instead of the traditional understanding of the myth as Sisyphus being punished by rolling the boulder up a hill just to see it roll back down over and over, Camus proposed that there was a meditative purpose in the aim for perfection.
“I connect that idea of this endless Sisyphean task of pushing the boulder to the labor of an artist, creating their works and then letting them go before they are ever completed, because it’s an impossibility. Projects are not completed. Projects are abandoned or let go or freed,” Betancur-Montoya said.
Over the coming weeks, Roshn Front will be transformed into a vibrant artistic playground where 30 sculptors from 23 countries will sculpt public artworks in real time. For visitors this is a rare opportunity to witness the magic of sculpture from the ground up, as raw materials slowly take form under the hands of craftspeople.
This year’s event also includes an apprenticeship program for young artists who aspire to be the next Tuwaiq participants.
Sarah Alruwayti, director of the symposium, said: “We were actually surprised to receive more than 400 applicants for the apprenticeship program.
“I think this was a huge milestone for us and we’re very proud of everyone who participated and who applied.”
Visitors will also have the chance to meet the artists and ask questions. The event features 11 panel discussions that will explore the role of public art in urban spaces, and 10 interactive workshops where people can try their hand at crafts like natural dyeing and sustainable art practices.
For those with a deeper curiosity, six masterclasses will dive into advanced sculptural techniques, including kinetic sculptures.
Guided tours and educational trips will also be available, offering insights into both the artists’ creative processes and Riyadh’s blossoming cultural landscape.
The finished sculptures will be unveiled at an exhibition from Feb. 12-24, giving visitors the chance to experience the completed works up close.
“Once the artists are done with the sculptures they are then relocated to different areas and we’ve already started this process (with creations from earlier events). Very soon, you will be able to actually witness these sculptures in their public areas,” Alruwayti said.
RIYADH: On Jan. 15, 1902, King Abdulaziz Al-Saud returned in triumph to Riyadh after a period of exile in Kuwait, and consolidated control over both the political and religious powers of Arabia.
The event marked the beginning of a new era for the Arabian Peninsula and the wider Islamic world.
This year on Jan. 15, to mark the monarch’s return 123 years ago, the King Abdulaziz Historical Center in Riyadh celebrated the centennial of an iconic book, “Kings of Arabia,” one of Lebanese-American writer and political activist Amin Rihani’s most notable books.
Published in 1925, it follows the writer’s journey across the Arabian Peninsula and his encounters with its most prominent Arab leaders.
Upon meeting King Abdulaziz, known at the time as the Sultan of Najd and its dependencies, Rihani famously had this to say about the late ruler: “Now that I have met all the Arab leaders. None of them (is) greater than this man.
“And I am not hastily judging nor am I exaggerating. As he is truly great. Great in his handshake and smile. Great in his words and his gaze.
“Great at stomping the Earth with his staff. He speaks his mind in the first meeting fearing no man. He reveals his secret and what a great secret it is.
“A man who knows his worth and believes only in Allah and himself. The man in him is greater than the Sultan. And he earned his people’s leadership with merits, not titles.
“I came to Ibn Saud with a heart that carries neither love nor hate as I told him. Neither the British’s nor the Hejaz’s opinions, neither the praises nor the condemnations had affected me, and the heart was filled with love in the first meeting between us.
“Even though this love might not be a result of admiration. I am delighted to have visited Ibn Saud after having visited them all. Truly, he is the crowning jewel.”
Prince Faisal bin Salman, special advisor to King Salman and chairman of the board of directors of the King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives, spoke at the event which was hosted jointly by the foundation and the Amin Rihani Organization.
Prince Faisal spoke about how Rihani came to Saudi Arabia with the preconceived notions common among many people who “did not have the opportunity to get to know the Arabian Peninsula up close.”
“At that time, the Arabian Peninsula and its neighboring countries were wary of the other, and looked at it with suspicion,” he said.
“King Abdulaziz in his wisdom adopted an open and welcoming dialect for all, believing that living authentic Islamic and Arab values such as faith, trust in Allah, generosity, courage, and chivalry would change understanding and break barriers and distances.”
Prince Faisal also saluted the progress made in the Kingdom since the establishment of the First Saudi State in 1932.
“This scene pictured by Rihani in his book, conveyed ... the building of a contemporary state that combines authenticity, modernity, and ambitious fruits for the future.
“The success established by King Abdulaziz was continued in his sons, the kings after him, arriving at Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman.”
Prince Faisal added that “they too walk on the same path of preserving the Islamic principles and authentic Arab values of Abdulaziz, the spirit of growth and opening up to the world, which made the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today one of the most important models globally in development, progress and innovation.”
Prince Faisal said that he has never encountered anyone who had previously held a negative image of the Kingdom and who had not reevaluated their misconceptions after visiting and meeting its people.
Rihani’s nephew, president of the Amin Rihani Organization and professor at Notre Dame University in Lebanon, Amin Albert Rihani, delivered a speech remotely.
“Those interested in Middle Eastern studies around the world will find it difficult to understand the developments and current events in the Middle East at the beginning of the 21st century unless they read the book ‘Kings of Arabia,’ because it constitutes the cornerstone of the history of the Near East in general and the Arab world in particular, and it also constitutes the gateway to contemporary Arab history,” he said.
Rihani spoke about the rich history and affection that connects the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.
“How did (Rihani’s) historical journey build, at the last of its stations, the first bridge of affection between the first two newly emerging Arab countries, between Lebanon, which was officially established in 1920, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, whose unification was announced in 1932?
“It is a bridge of affection, love, and appreciation between Sultan Abdulaziz and Amin Rihani.
“It is the first bridge between the small homeland with the big heart and the large homeland with the vast and wide vision, ready to keep up with the times and keep up with the model that is to be emulated in every poverty and victory.”
Rihani’s family also attended the event as the prince’s guests of honor.
Following the presentation, the event concluded with two panel discussions on the prominence of King Abdulaziz in “Kings of Arabia” and on the book’s history.
The celebration also featured a short clip of a newly released documentary film detailing Rihani’s journey and its significance in the birth of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
RIYADH: Saudi flynas airline celebrated the inauguration of its first direct flight between Riyadh and Entebbe in Uganda this week.
Flynas has launched a new route themed, “We Connect the World to the Kingdom,” as part of its expansion into the African market.
An inauguration ceremony took place at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Thursday, with representatives from flynas and the Riyadh Airports Company in attendance.
Flynas will operate three flights weekly on the Riyadh-Entebbe route.
The airline currently serves 139 routes to more than 70 domestic and international destinations across 30 countries, with more than 1,500 flights weekly, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
Since its launch in 2007, flynas has served more than 80 million passengers and plans to expand to 165 destinations by 2030, in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.
The Kingdom plans to become a regional aviation hub, connecting 250 international destinations and accommodating 330 million passengers by 2030.
MADINAH: The Saudi Social Entrepreneurship Summit, along with an accompanying exhibition, has been launched by empowerment development company Namaa Al-Munawara.
It is being held under the patronage of Madinah Deputy Gov. Prince Saud bin Khalid bin Faisal, on behalf of Madinah Gov. Prince Salman bin Sultan.
Prince Saud bin Khalid bin Faisal praised the significant support provided by leaders of the social entrepreneurship sector, which helps reinforce the Kingdom’s position as a leading model in sustainable development, in alignment with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030.
He emphasized that the forum served as a national platform, bringing together leaders of government, and the private and non-profit sectors. The aim is to enhance partnerships and build an integrated system that supports social entrepreneurship.
Prince Saud bin Khalid bin Faisal also commended the efforts of Namaa Al-Munawara and all parties involved in organizing the summit, saying the initiatives presented during the event would empower entrepreneurs and highlight success stories.
