Egyptians in AI Research

From Research Labs to Dinner Tables

ChatGPT has brought the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) from research labs to the dinner table. I found myself discussing the work I have been doing with relatives of mine and friends who don’t know the first thing about AI. I actually realized that some of them don’t even know that I work in AI research. The other day, I was speaking with my 77 year old relative about ChatGPT, as one would do nowadays, and the topic of Egyptian scientists in AI came up. He was asking me, are there any known Egyptian researchers in the field? I replied saying that there are many, but it dawned on me at the time that most people in Egypt aren’t aware of the pioneers who come from their own country. It felt sad that everyone knows about that actor or this singer or football player but have no idea of scientists who dedicate their lives for helping make the world a better place. So I decided at the time to do a simple website, one that combines Egypt’s most prominent researchers who pioneered in that field everyone is talking about nowadays, and thus “Egyptians in AI Research” was born.

Egyptians in AI?

I was reminded of myself during my first year as an undergraduate, still learning about AI and the magic behind it, and that feeling of knowing with certainty that this is the field I wanted to work in. However, that sense of clarity was often overshadowed by a nagging feeling of inadequacy, as I couldn’t help but perceive the goal—of becoming a top-researcher in the field—as distant and unattainable for someone like me. I remember writing the following paragraph back then to convey what I felt:

Having been born in Egypt, and living all my life in Cairo, I grew up thinking that one can not be a world-leading researcher and come from this part of the world. Throughout the years, I have attempted to seek guidance from those around me, but role models in my field did not live near me and did not look like me. I was led to believe that as a citizen of a “third-world” country, I can only be a consumer of such emergent technologies, not a producer. I was part of an archaic education system that reinforced this idea. There were no opportunities to explore worlds beyond that of the standard curriculum. No communities to foster young talents and interests. Students like myself resorted to the internet to have a glimpse of what is being robbed from them.

Inspiring the Next Generation

Now, more than eight years later, I came to realize how wrong I was. There was something I wasn’t aware of at the time. Most Egyptians who succeed in this field sadly do not stay in Egypt, but seek opportunities abroad, to work either in an industry lab or at a university. That made me think, how would’ve that fact have changed the perception of that young, aspiring researcher about himself? If only I knew there were others who walked in the same shoes as I was back then. This pushed me to finish this website, with the hope of inspiring young Egyptians who aspire to break into this growing and increasingly important field.

Contributing to and Improving the “Egyptians in AI Research” Website

However, the website is far from complete, there are many others who need to be on that list. So please, if you don’t see yourself or any person you know that should be featured on this website, you can fill out this form, and I will work on updating the list regularly. The only criteria I placed, after consulting some experts, is that the individual must have an h-index of 5 or higher, as recorded on their Google Scholar profile. That means, they must have at least 5 papers each cited at least 5 times. If you also have any feedback as to how I can improve the website, my inbox is open. I hope you find this website as informative and inspiring as I see it.

Celebrating Diverse Contributions: Creating Websites for X in Y

Let’s not stop at AI, the code for the website is open-sourced on GitHub. I encourage anyone to fork the repository and create a similar X in Y website, where X can be a nationality or an ethnic group (e.g. Arabs) and Y is any field or speciality that you think is important to share.

Let’s Keep the List Growing

Thank you for reading this far, and let’s get the list growing!

Website

https://bkhmsi.github.io/egyptians-in-ai/