Meet 'Ryan': AI chatbot, global labour market advisor turning heads at Riyadh conference

Riyadh: 'Ryan', a star attraction at a mega-conference in Riyadh, introduces himself as a global labour market advisor, talks about highly sought-after jobs in Saudi Arabia and says politics is not his area of expertise ---- except he is not human but a highly intelligent AI-based chatbot.

'Ryan', as his makers have named him, has been showcased in a booth set up in a pavilion room of the second edition of the Global Labour Market Conference (GLMC) being hosted at the sprawling King Abdulaziz International Conference Centre (KAICC).

Visitors at the GLMC Pavillion can interact with this chatbot -- billed as the first artificial intelligence-based 'global labour market advisor', either directly in the booth or by scanning a QR code that opens into a chat engine.

Built by Takamol, a Riyadh-based company, the AI chatbot has two versions -- on on-site version in which it only responds to queries in English and the online version in which it replies in text chat in multiple languages including French, Arabic and Spanish.

PTI visited the booth set up by Takamol and even interacted with 'Ryan', who responded to a question related to the second presidency of Donald Trump in the US.

'Ryan', however, prefaced its response with a disclaimer that his expertise lies in global labour market-related subjects and not politics.

"I clarify that my expertise lies in global labour market topics. I can provide general information on US market trends and policies during his time in office if that will be helpful," the AI chatbot said when asked about Trump's second presidency.

The glitzy booth on the side showcases the chatbot represented by a 3D space with a digital image of 'Ryan' projected on two walls meeting at a corner. The bot even 'turns its head' when the visitors standing in front of the booth move.

The other end of the booth displays line data from the Saudi market on a digital grid.

On the side digital panels, a huge map of Saudi Arabia is shown as well as statistics related to the workforce in Saudi Arabia, the gig economy and other relevant data.

Senior Director of Analytics at Takamol, Abdullah Althawad, said the current 'Ryan' on display at GLMC is an "upgraded version" and "we have made it better".

"We have developed this AI model, 'Ryan', to work as a labour market advisor for any question regarding the global labour market. As you know, we created this stall with two versions -- online access and offline for showcasing, as at this conference," Althawad told PTI.

"The offline version responds roughly with 50-60 words, to keep the answer short, to give more room to participants to interact," he said.

The online version gives more in-depth answers, and this model is limited only to labour market-related questions, hopefully, it will be useful for the visitors at GLMC, Althawad added.

"We developed 'Ryan' in 2023, and it was showcased on the main stage at the inaugural edition of GLMC. This year, we have upgraded 'Ryan'. For the offline version, we used local.. model, and for the online version, we are using open AI services, in addition to speech-to-text and text-to-speech, a technology where questions can be asked vocally," the Takamol official said.

And, the upgraded 'Ryan' or 'Ryan 2.0' only gives answers to labour market-related queries, it even partially responds to questions on the road ahead for the economy of Saudi Arabia in the next five years, the famous food of the country and a bit on the history of the iconic venue.

KAICC is a modern complex built in a heritage architecture style with graceful Roman-style pillars and arches, and intricate carvings on ceilings.

The mega event is being attended by policymakers, industry leaders, scholars, innovators and field experts from over 100 countries, in the labour sector, and a ministerial roundtable was also held on day one of the conference that ends on January 30.

Asked what it took to shape up the chatbot, Althawad said: "For updating 'Ryan', we spent three weeks to one-month period, for the previous version, roughly the same time was spent by our team. And, so we wanted to upgrade it for GLMC 2.0 and, we made it better." "It was showcased at the opening ceremony, but this year, we gave 'Ryan' an off-stage presence in the booth. Our visitors are still enjoying 'Ryan'. They think it's a fascinating piece of technology, and we are happy to see that," he added.

The official also urged people to "adopt AI" and not be apprehensive about this evolving technology.

"I am no labour expert, I come from the technology side, but to quote one of our ministers... He used to stay and still says, 'If you cannot work with AI, you will be replaced with AI'. So, all of us should adopt AI. It will help us not replace us. If we fight it, it will replace us," he said.

Asked how he saw the future in the age of AI, Althawad cautioned that "the speed of improvement in this field is scary", adding the speed of development is massive, "so God knows, what will we see in 2026".

Takamol Academy has displayed a digital 'flip booklet' at this booth.

"The academy is a strategic partner with government and various companies, empowering and leading the human capabilities, citizens and labour market. We provide technical and soft skills to various stakeholders," said Mohamed Aldobaie, a senior official at Takamol Academy.

Aldobaie also demonstrated a digital 'flip-booklet' whose pages get turned based on the movement of hands when placed above a sensor mounted near the 'book'.