Unifying data and AI terms for all

By Majid Alshehry, General Manager of Studies, and Faisal Alotaibi, Research Team Lead, Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA)

The world is witnessing rapid technological advances in the fields of data science and artificial intelligence (AI).

From helping fight climate change to addressing all the other sustainable development goals of the United Nations, valuable use cases show how cutting-edge data and AI applications can improve our daily lives.

At the same time, public awareness initiatives are still behind the curve, leaving many people feeling ambivalent about AI. Moreover, for non-technical readers, disparate definitions of data and AI terms can impede easy understanding of these dynamic fields.

Despite global summits, educational publications, and ample media coverage, the fields of AI and data science stand to benefit from an agreed set of accessible definitions and terminologies.

While many excellent glossaries and AI-related standards have been introduced, they all fall short of covering the full range of widely used terms and definitions, especially amid the rapid evolution of data and AI use globally.

To help address this challenge, the Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA) has set out to create and publish a specialized glossary, containing over a thousand key terms and definitions related to data and AI in both English and Arabic.

Collection and translation

The process of compiling the glossary involved four stages: collecting terms and definitions; proposing simplified definitions for those terms; reviewing the technical accuracy of the definitions; and ensuring their linguistic correctness.

In the first stage, terms and definitions were collected from more than 20 carefully selected, highly reliable, specialized sources, which included academic textbooks, industrial glossaries, and international standards. Second, simplified definitions for these terms were proposed, initially in English, taking care not to jeopardize their essential accuracy. Third, data and AI experts reviewed the technical accuracy of the definitions. Finally, English-language experts reviewed the glossary to ensure the terms and definitions were linguistically correct.

To take the glossary one step further and help boost AI and data use in our own region, SDAIA collaborated with another Saudi institution, the King Salman Global Academy for the Arabic Language. Together, we translated the glossary into Arabic while stringently maintaining its technical accuracy.

For example, a search of Arabic AI literature found the term “agent” translated into at least seven different words. In the glossary, the term is uniformly translated as wakeel (وكيل).

During the translation process, the team avoided literal or exotic translations, preferred common translations over rare ones, and tried to standardize translations whenever appropriate.

AI in the Arab world

This work came as part of SDAIA’s efforts to enrich Arabic content, raise awareness about data and AI, standardize key concepts, and facilitate access to vital information for researchers, practitioners, media professionals, and others, nationally, regionally, and further afield. All this is in line with the Saudi Vision 2030 objectives.

We believe this glossary will ease understanding and improve the accessibility of data and AI knowledge. Moving forward, we urge organizations from all around the world to review, contribute, and translate the glossary into more languages.

SDAIA also hopes to work with interested study groups at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to continue incorporating more terms and expand the glossary’s language versions beyond Arabic and English.

Together, all of us can foster global awareness. Together, we can educate people in numerous fields and from walks of life to use data and AI for good.

Browse the SDAIA Data and AI Glossary.

Image credit: Mikhail Nilov via Pexels