Music artist Will.i.am, Dubai retailer Al Futtaim to set up Amazon-sized tech firm

Grammy-winning music producer Will.i.am’s technology company I.AM + and the Dubai-based retailer Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) group announced plans to build a tech company the size of US tech giant Amazon.

Earlier in 2019, I.AM + signed its first partnership agreement with MAF to provide voice-based artificial intelligence (AI) powered assistance to customers that resembles Amazon’s alexa to “create a conversational AI for humanity,” the artist and technologist told Arabian Business on Sunday.

“Data is the new oil, data is the new power. And personal AI is more important than the personal computer today,” he noted at the World Government Summit held in Dubai.

The new voice-based operating system called Omega will be available for purchase at Carrefour and Vox Cinemas before being launched “across [the] entire ecosystem,” MAF’s CEO Allain Beijani said.

Majid Al Futtaim is the Middle East operator of French retailer Carrefour.

The new system is currently being launched in English, while the Arabic version will be rolled out in the near future in 2019, Beijani added.

“Will has a great vision in what he wants to do with AI for humanity,” he added, noting that “voice is the future of shopping as well as living.”