The world’s first AI-powered TVs with Arabic voice recognition will initially be available in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, LG Electronics said on Thursday.

The South Korean electronics giant told Arabian Business that it is keen to transform home entertainment across the region and there will be “no restrictions” on adding new markets to sell the product.

The company said that its new technology is designed to support standard Arabic, in addition to the Saudi dialect, adding that it also plans to diversify into different Arabic dialects later this year.

The new range of AI-focused TV models are the 2019 version of OLED AI ThinQ and NanoCell AI ThinQ which support a total of 15 languages.

Users can now communicate with their TVs in Arabic, speaking directly into their remote controls. This is made possible with the use of Natural Language Processing (NLP), a technology which helps deliver intelligent voice-activated control.

Combined with ThinQ AI, LG’s new TVs deploy a deep learning mechanism to analyse commands, understand context and make communication smoother.

In addition to regular requests, such as volume adjustment and content searches, users can also ask their televisions follow-up questions, such as the name of an actor, the films they have starred in and the soundtrack playing in the background.

If the user asks for the TV to be switched off at a certain time, the TV will take note of this and perform the operation at the time requested.

Currently, LG runs 13 shops in the Middle East, including in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and the UAE.

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