Top AI Tools for Arabic Speakers and Writers in 2024

There are now several AI tools for Arabic speakers and writers that make writing Arabic content much easier and better. This article presents some AI tools for Arabic that you should try out in 2024.

Converting speech to text

kateb.ai (mobile app)

This tool grabbed my attention because it works well. It can transcribe Arabic text in real time. I tested it with al-Arabiya al-Hadath (almost perfect) and with friends speaking Arabic dialects (not perfect, but impressive!). It’s only available as a mobile app, but you’ll mostly use it on your phone anyway. The developers are from Cairo, Egypt.

Just to show you how well this tool works: I opened a YouTube video, turned on my desktop speakers, opened the kateb.ai app on my Android phone, pressed record, and started the video.

In my opinion, the result is really amazing.

• As a guest user, you get 10 minutes for free.
• If you want to improve your listening comprehension, this is a really excellent tool. You can play the audio and the app marks the position and the word with a different color. So you can follow the text and listen to the voice at the same time.
• It understands Arabic dialects.

Translating Arabic

Google Translate is now really good and can be used in everyday life. Chat-GPT (Bing Chat) can also be a help with tricky texts. But there are also a few newcomers.

DeepL for translation

DeepL has long been a household name among German native speakers. It is the best translation engine for German <-> English. It now also offers a style function (“DeepL Write”) that works very well for both German and English.

Since spring this year, DeepL has finally offered Arabic as a translation language.

DeepL Arabic still sometimes has trouble with long Arabic sentences. But the tool learns incredibly quickly and has improved a lot since its launch. The great thing about DeepL is that it translates less “literally” than Google, which is why it sometimes comes up with surprisingly good solutions. I can highly recommend simply copying/pasting texts into both translation tools and then using the best of both tools.

• DeepL is free (for basic usage)

• There is nothing free in this world. So you pay with your “data”. You do the same with Google every day. But just in case you have very sensitive data, you should consider a subscription (€7.49 per month), which is very privacy friendly (all data is deleted immediately after having being processed).

DeepL or Google Translate: Which is better at Arabic?

The popular translation tool deepl.com can now translate Arabic! We tested it and pitted it against Google Translate. Some of the results are surprising. Who comes out on top?

Tarjama

This is perhaps the most powerful translation engine for business people who write and read Arabic. It offers an extra function for legal texts and e-commerce.

• Tarjama is free (for basic usage): 5 documents per month; max. 2000 characters per translation.
• High data security (paid plans) as the company is ISO 27001 certified.

• The pro plan starts at $13.50 per month. There is still a limit though: 5,000 characters in the translation box or 15,000 words per document.

Arabic spelling and grammar checker

qalam.ai

qalam.ai is a tool that has been around for a few years. It offers a spell checker, the option to rephrase texts and other features, such as adding diacritical marks.

Similar to languagetool.org, it does not detect all mistakes and when you use the Tashkeel option, you really have to check the results as there may be quite a few mistakes.

• If you register, you get a free trial phase (1500 words).

• The paid version is $11.99 per month or $72.99 per year.

languagetool.org

This tool is developed in Germany and works great for German and English. The good news: Arabic is also supported, although the accuracy can’t keep up with the other two languages.

But if you just want to quickly correct Hamza spelling mistakes or incorrect gender matches, then it can be very helpful. In any case, I would copy/paste any written Arabic text and see if the tool finds any errors. As is always the case with AI tools, also languagetool.org is quite often wrong! So always check before you accept.

• The tool is free (basic usage) and can also be integrated into LibreOffice and internet browsers!
• For nerds: It is open source and can also be installed on a NAS or your own server. Learn more on this GitHub page: https://github.com/languagetool-org/languagetool

Generating Arabic text

To be honest, ChatGPT is already remarkably good when it comes to Arabic text. In general, AI tools that are more or less based on other engines are popping up every month.

There are also a few specialized GPT tools for Arabic. Since they also offer to process almost any language, they might be a practical option if you mainly write in Arabic and only occasionally need to generate text in other languages. Otherwise, you will quickly end up with too many subscriptions to text generators.

bing.com

If you don’t want to spend any money or only sometimes have to quickly create or rewrite Arabic texts, just use Microsoft’s Bing.

If you are curious what Bing actually wrote in Arabic, click here…

I asked bing to write in English what it had written in Arabic:

Linux is an excellent choice compared to Windows for several reasons. First, Linux is an open-source system, which means anyone can view and modify the source code according to their needs, enhancing transparency and security. Second, Linux is more secure and less prone to viruses and malware compared to Windows, reducing the need for expensive antivirus software. Third, Linux can run efficiently on older hardware, extending the lifespan of devices and saving costs. Finally, Linux offers unparalleled freedom to customize the interface and functions, providing users with a unique and fully tailored experience to meet their needs.

• It is free – you just need to register with your email address.
• It uses the internet to check sources.

katteb.com

Katteb (كاتِب) is an AI tool for Arabic content creation that has some nice extras: fact-checking and in-text-citations; plagiarism checker and an export function to Wordpress and other platforms.

• Price-range is in the middle, as plans start at $10 per month.
• If you are a power user: they offer a life-time plan for $399 (August 2024).

araby.ai

It’s a bit of a jack of all trades. That’s what it says on the homepage: “All the latest AI tools in one place”. You can also use araby.ai to generate images, transcribe text, split and improve audio files, even to produce code, etc.

In my opinion, the quality is neither better nor worse than all the other text generators. Since every text is different, you just have to press generate a few times until you get something that suits you. But that’s actually the case with most AI generators.

If you only want to spend money on one tool, arabic.ai isn’t a bad deal because you get it is quite cheap compared to other services.

• Since you can use it for many applications, it is quite a good deal (starter plan): $9/month or $5/month if you pay 1 year in advance.

Note: I am not affiliated in any way with the tools presented. I also do not receive a commission if you take out a subscription – so these are not affiliate links. I only present tools that I know myself. I do not make paid posts on Arabic for Nerds, and I explicitly mark advertisements.

One more thing: If you were wondering what the Arabic writing in the feature image is, it’s just a bunch of garbage letters that somehow look Arabic, generated by the Midjourney AI, which still has some problems with letters. But since it only serves the purpose of illustration, I left the funky picture.