By Chelsea Saydi
On Wednesday, October 8, the Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture (MSFEA) at AUB, in collaboration with IEEE Lebanon and the IEEE AUB Student Branch, invited the university community to a special talk by Dr. Kamal Shehadi, Lebanon’s Minister of the Displaced and Minister of State for Technology and Artificial Intelligence.
“Does Lebanon have the right to win in AI?”
Standing before a room full of engineering students, Dr. Shehadi began with a question:
“Does Lebanon have the right to win in artificial intelligence?”
The room hesitated. Some said yes, others weren’t so sure. Then, after listening quietly, Dr. Shehadi smiled and said,
“Yes, because of its minds.”
Despite Lebanon’s ongoing struggles with electricity, connectivity, and infrastructure, the Minister emphasized that the country’s most valuable resource remains its people.
“It takes two years to build the best power networks, six months to install the best fiber networks, but over a hundred years to build talent; and Lebanon already has the talent.”
It was a statement that instantly reframed the discussion away from what Lebanon lacks, and toward what it already possesses.
Plans for an AI-Powered Government
Over the next hour, Dr. Shehadi outlined his ministry’s vision to transform Lebanon from a country playing technological catch-up into one capable of leapfrogging directly into the AI era.
“We’re not doing this because it’s fashionable,” he said. “We’re doing it because it’s the only way to make citizens’ lives better and the only way forward.”
While other nations are still developing “smart government,” his focus is on AI-powered government digital systems that can automate public services and improve citizens’ daily lives.
Four Pillars of Lebanon’s Digital Roadmap
The roadmap rests on four pillars: foundation, services, talent, and ecosystem.
- Foundation: building the legal and institutional infrastructure: data-privacy laws, cybersecurity regulations, and a dedicated digital authority to oversee implementation.
- Services: delivering projects such as a National Digital ID, unified digital payment system and smart digital stamps to replace inefficient bureaucratic processes.
- Talent: training and retaining 5,000 AI engineers, integrating AI into public-school curricula, and providing re-skilling programs.
- Ecosystem: reviving Lebanon’s entrepreneurial energy by re-establishing the Lebanese Angel Investor Network, attracting $500 million in tech investment by 2030, and fostering partnerships between the public and private sectors.
A Cultural Shift
For Dr. Shehadi, technology is only half the story. The other half is cultural: rebuilding trust and initiative.
“We live in a region where political stability is rare,” he admitted, “but that cannot stop us from building the future.”
He urged students to see themselves as active participants, not observers, in shaping Lebanon’s transformation.
The Road Ahead
As the talk drew to a close, the Minister looked over the audience, rows of young engineers and innovators, and left them with one last thought:
“We can either be spectators of the world’s transformation, or we can lead Lebanon into it.”
The applause that followed carried a sense of conviction more than optimism, a recognition that Lebanon’s leap into the AI age begins not with machines, but with the people who choose to build them.