Dubai exemplifies how brands can stay authentic, innovative in AI era, Managing Director of Amazon Ads tells Arab Media Summit

Dubai: Dubai is a strong example of how a brand can remain innovative, authentic, and connected to people, Rayan Karaky, Managing Director of Amazon Ads, EMEA & Southeast Asia, said at the Arab Media Summit 2026 in Dubai on Tuesday. Speaking during the session, "Amazon: What’s Worth Paying Attention To,” , Karaky cited Dubai while discussing whether brands were losing their way in a rapidly changing digital environment. Businesses need to innovate, take risks, and find new ways to engage people, he said. Dubai, as a brand, has continued to reinvent itself while remaining authentic and connected to people. Karaky also spoke about Amazon’s Digital Arabic Library initiative, which he is leading, saying digital content does not adequately represent a language spoken by more than 420 million people. The initiative began with the digitisation of 38,000 books to make more Arabic content available in the digital ecosystem, including to AI. Karaky said the challenge went beyond the volume of content. Arabic may be a common language across the region, but its dialects, cultures and identities vary widely. As AI learns from available content and standardises it, those nuances risk being lost. "Tech is just a tool,” he said. Humans need to feed machines with information that reflects those differences. Arabic content has also not kept pace with Arabic content consumption, Karaky said, a gap the Digital Arabic Library initiative seeks to address. The session was moderated by Fedah Jassim, Head of Data Visualisation at The National, UAE, who raised the question of what makes content valuable at a time when AI has transformed content creation. Karaky said that during the television advertising era, "content is king” was the prevailing idea. Today, content has become a commodity, with reels, synthetic content and copycat trends producing more of the same. Brands looking to stand out need to communicate value, be creative and remain truthful, he said. Individual truths and values are ultimately reflected in brand values. On personalisation and audience targeting, Karaky warned against allowing optimisation and standardisation to replace human judgement. Drawing on 25 years of industry experience, he said AI plans the "next mile” based on past miles, while humans can plan the next mile from past chaos. He cited BlackBerry, saying its story could have been different had AI been available at the time. For businesses, the "what if?” question is therefore critical, he said. Brands need to examine alternatives, experiment, take risks and be prepared to make mistakes. "Machines learn from the past and deploy the future,” Karaky said, adding that experimentation had become increasingly important in the AI era. He also warned that algorithms could trap consumers in loops of similar content. A single viewing choice can lead to feeds filled with more of the same, allowing algorithms to increasingly predict and shape what people consume. For brands trying to cut through that loop, Karaky identified three essentials for storytelling: originality, opinion, and loyalty. Rather than relying heavily on paid influencers, brands should look to loyal consumers who already believe in them and can speak for them, he said. Asked what was worth paying attention to in an age of abundant content, Karaky said truth was the key differentiator. Truth helps content stand out, engage audiences, and build communities, he said, while humans remain "the pilots” in deciding how technology is used.