- I.AM+’s Omega platform is the world’s first contextual voice platform and will be available to customers in both English and Arabic
- Announcement made at the World Government Summit in recognition of the prominent role the platform plays in advancing technologies and its implications on societies
- Majid Al Futtaim to implement the technology across its entire ecosystem, starting with Carrefour and VOX Cinemas
- Customers will be able to purchase cinema tickets and groceries using AI voice assistant
Dubai: Majid Al Futtaim, the leading shopping mall, communities, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and I.AM+ today announced that the AI-powered Omega platform will be rolled out for the first time in English and Arabic through Majid Al Futtaim’s Carrefour and VOX Cinemas brands in the Middle East. The Los Angeles-based technology company, I.AM+, has chosen the Middle East as its English version launch market, following the partnership announcement with Majid Al Futtaim at the World Economic Forum, in January 2019.
Majid Al Futtaim will introduce the AI-powered voice assistant to its customers this year, enabling an entirely new level of experiential retail at various customer touchpoints when shopping for groceries or booking movie tickets. The I.AM+ Omega platform, customised for Majid Al Futtaim customers, will engage consumers in localised conversational and contextual style interactions, available in English and Arabic, delivering deep cross domain knowledge for a seamless customer experience.
The announcement was made at the seventh edition of the World Government Summit in the presence of His Excellency, Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, UAE’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence. In line with Dubai’s growing reputation as a global hub for innovation and technological advancements, the introduction of the I.AM+ Omega platform is testament to the continually growing appeal of the region and the UAE as an entry market for international businesses.
“Being home to the global launch of Omega as part of the Majid Al Futtaim and I.AM+ partnership, further showcases our commitment to the Strategy for Artificial Intelligence under which we aim to position the UAE as a leader in the field of AI adoption in various sectors, and create a new vital market with high economic value. We provide our full support to such initiatives that advance the agenda and vision of Smart Dubai 2021 and we look forward to celebrating the success of this partnership in due course,” His Excellency, Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence in the UAE, said.
With an average of 33 apps installed on smartphones, research indicates users only use three apps 80% of the time. Command driven, non-conversational technologies lead to lower usage rates and poor retention. The I.AM+ Omega platform will address a rising gap between what consumers want from their smartphone applications and the current level of satisfaction that they experience.
Alain Bejjani, Chief Executive Officer of Majid Al Futtaim - Holding, commented: “We continue to implement cutting-edge technologies within our business to ensure that we are creating ground breaking experiences. Our partnership with I.AM+ indicates our commitment to pushing customer-centric solutions and ensuring that people in our region experience the true potential of AI and the opportunities of voice technology. We are excited to bring to life the Omega platform across our brands this year.”
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of I.AM+, will.i.am, said: The UAE is at the forefront of AI adoption and entrepreneurship so it’s a perfect location for the first bilingual version of Omega to be introduced globally. We recognise tremendous potential in this region as it holds one of the highest internet penetration levels in the world. Majid Al Futtaim is the leading lifestyle conglomerate across the region and is the ideal partner given the common vision we share to use technology for better human experiences.
Consumers will be able to utilise Omega’s voice computing technology which understands context and is proactive in anticipating needs based on historical data. The technology is designed to support simultaneous multi-tasking use that combines features extracted from different modalities such as text, audio and image, allowing for seamless fusion of voice and user interface across multiple devices. Another differentiating factor for the Omega platform is the privacy and customer data protection the technology enjoys.
In January 2019, as part of the partnership announcement with Majid Al Futtaim, I.AM+ also announced Majid Al Futtaim as the first retail conglomerate to be a member of the Accommodation and Retail Coalition (A.R.C.), a confederation of travel suppliers, retail brands and service providers who will offer a neutral voice AI platform to consumers that is private by design. The coalition is intended to embrace the opportunity of voice technologies and address the challenges, collectively, to deliver a world-class AI experience for customers.
Majid Al Futtaim’s digital transformation journey is driving the company’s ability to merge physical and virtual experiences in a number of ways. The company continues to add digital dimensions to its business, enhance its seamless omnichannel offerings, and revolutionise its data and analytics capabilities. Majid Al Futtaim’s experiences will harness the power of I.AM+’s Omega platform to drive brand loyalty, while building, maintaining and enriching direct customer relationships.
-Ends-
About Omega
Omega is a conversational, voice first, A.I platform. It is designed to be private and built from the ground up to protect user privacy. It is conversational, understands context, is cross domainable and proactive in anticipating user needs. It is designed to be voice first but with simultaneous multimodality allowing for seamless fusion of voice and U.I.
The platform offers powerful benefits to help engage both enterprise level B2C customers and B2C general consumers across many industries such as entertainment, retail, grocery, fashion, financial services, hospitality travel and more. The platform is also being used by Deutsche Telekom and deployed in Europe for providing customer care for their customers under the persona of “Tinka.”
About Majid Al Futtaim
Founded in 1992, Majid Al Futtaim is the leading shopping mall, communities, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
A remarkable business success story, Majid Al Futtaim started from one man’s vision to transform the face of shopping, entertainment and leisure to ‘create great moments for everyone, every day’. It has since grown into one of the United Arab Emirates’ most respected and successful businesses spanning 15 international markets, employing more than 43,000 people, and obtaining the highest credit rating (BBB) among privately-held corporates in the region.
Majid Al Futtaim owns and operates 24 shopping malls, 13 hotels and four mixed-use communities, with further developments underway in the region. The shopping malls portfolio includes Mall of the Emirates, Mall of Egypt, City Centre malls, My City Centre neighbourhood centres, and four community malls which are in joint venture with the Government of Sharjah. The Company is the exclusive franchisee for Carrefour in 38 markets across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and operates a portfolio of 264 outlets in 14 countries.
Majid Al Futtaim operates 353 VOX Cinema screens and 35 Magic Planet family entertainment centres across the region. In addition to iconic leisure and entertainment facilities such as Ski Dubai, Orbi Dubai and Ski Egypt, among others. The Company is parent to the consumer finance company 'Najm', and a Fashion and Home retail business representing international brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch, AllSaints, lululemon athletica, Crate & Barrel and Maison du Monde. In addition, Majid Al Futtaim operates Enova, a facility and energy management company, through a joint venture operation with Veolia, a global leader in optimised environment resource management. The Company also owns the rights to The LEGO Store and American Girl in the Middle East and operates in the food and beverage industry through a partnership with Gourmet Gulf.
About I.AM+ and Omega
Founded in 2012 with the mission of saving people time by helping them get things done faster and better than with existing devices and services.
I.AM+ is charting new horizons in voice and AI technology, offering a conversational, contextual, cross-domainable voice A.I platform for consumers and enterprises. Omega’s voice platform provides a high level of consumer privacy and identity safeguard using voice recognition patterns to authenticate each unique customer. The platform is device agnostic and will power a variety of intelligent consumer electronics devices. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, the company also maintains offices in New York City, Bangalore, and Singapore. For more information, please visit www.iamplus.com.
About Omega, AI Voice Computing Platform
Omega is a conversational, voice first, A.I platform. It is designed to be private and built from the ground up to protect consumer privacy via voice authentication. It is conversational, understands context, is cross domainable and proactive in anticipating user needs. Omega seamlessly integrates voice-controlled computing with other modalities including text, audio and images.
The platform offers powerful benefits to help engage both enterprise level B2C customers and B2C general consumers across many industries such as entertainment, retail, grocery, fashion, financial services, hospitality travel and more. The platform is also being used by Deutsche Telekom and deployed in Europe for providing customer care for their customers in German language under the persona of “Tinka.”
Yahya Khalid
Media Expert
Project Management Office
Director General's Office
Disclaimer: The contents of this press release was provided from an external third party provider. This website is not responsible for, and does not control, such external content. This content is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis and has not been edited in any way. Neither this website nor our affiliates guarantee the accuracy of or endorse the views or opinions expressed in this press release.
The press release is provided for informational purposes only. The content does not provide tax, legal or investment advice or opinion regarding the suitability, value or profitability of any particular security, portfolio or investment strategy. Neither this website nor our affiliates shall be liable for any errors or inaccuracies in the content, or for any actions taken by you in reliance thereon. You expressly agree that your use of the information within this article is at your sole risk.
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, this website, its parent company, its subsidiaries, its affiliates and the respective shareholders, directors, officers, employees, agents, advertisers, content providers and licensors will not be liable (jointly or severally) to you for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, incidental, punitive or exemplary damages, including without limitation, lost profits, lost savings and lost revenues, whether in negligence, tort, contract or any other theory of liability, even if the parties have been advised of the possibility or could have foreseen any such damages.
