5Intelligence in Our Lives

The two children and some other little ones gathered with Fawzooz in Uncle Saleh’s shop. Fawzooz said, “Artificial intelligence isn’t only in games and robots; it’s in things we use every day.”

Face unlock. Just then Uncle Saleh looked at his new phone, and it opened. He jumped up from his seat and said, “It knew my face before my own neighbour did!” The children laughed, and Fawzooz said, “The phone recognises your face to unlock, and that’s thanks to AI.”

“Always remember to protect your privacy, and be careful about what you share.”

Voice assistants. The little girl said, “And the little box we talk to at home?” He answered, “It understands what we say, reminds us of the prayer times, answers our questions, and tells us the weather.”

Translation. Then a stranger came into the shop speaking a language nobody understood. Fawzooz took out an app that translates speech between languages in moments, and it turned the guest’s words into Arabic, so he bought his bread and left with a smile. Fawzooz said, “This app learned from millions of translated texts, just as you learn from every book you read.”

Suggested videos. The little girl asked, “How does the device know I love cat videos?” Fawzooz said, “It watches what you watch, and what you stop at for a long time, and then it suggests videos that are similar.”

The little boy laughed and said, “So AI knows us really well!” Fawzooz said, “It only knows what we give it. So always remember to protect your privacy, and be careful about what you share online.”

That night, Uncle Saleh went to sleep with his phone beside him. AI makes our lives easier, as long as we use it carefully and responsibly.