Pansa was part of a panel discussing ‘Digital Technologies and Statistics’ alongside Dr Berlant Qabeel, His Excellency Saeed Al Tunaiji from the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Center, Mohamed Rashad, President of the Arab Publishers Association, and His Excellency Dr Abdul Rahman Al Maeeni, from the Intellectual Property Rights Sector at the Ministry of Economy. She spoke of the fundamental value of gathering accurate and consistent statistics about the size of the global publishing market so that publishers can speak convincingly with governments and others about the reach and importance of our sector.
Karine also attended meetings with IPA member, the Arab Publishers Association, as well as the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Center.
On 28 April, Borghino attended the International Congress of Arabic Publishing and Creative Industries which included sessions on ‘Cultural and Creative Industries as Drivers of Growth’, ‘The Dynamic Relationship between Literature and Film Adaptation,’ ‘The Impact of Generative AI on Humanity’ and ‘Fostering a Love of Reading in the Next Generation’.
During the Book Fair, Borghino spoke on a panel about ‘Artificial Intelligence in International Publishing’. The panel was moderated by new IPA Executive Committee member Ahmed Rashad and included Fareed Zahran, the newly elected President of the Egyptian Publishers Association. During the panel, Borghino stressed the IPA’s position on Generative AI: that the global copyright framework, if respected and adhered to, was flexible and robust enough to deal with AI; that AI platforms had a legal obligation to reveal the sources of their training data; and that the platforms needed to ask for permission to use rightsholders’ content and then offer remuneration.
Borghino took the opportunity of being in Abu Dhabi to meet with senior representatives of the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Center, IPA members the Arab Publishers Association and Egyptian Publishers Association, the head of the General Egyptian Book Organization, as well EC member Ahmed Rashad, IPA Freedom to Publish Committee member IPA Sherif Bakr and the 2019 Prix Voltaire laureate Khaled Lotfy.