From Eco's Library to the Age of AI

Using Ahmed Somai’s Arabic translation of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose as its starting point, this interview-led conversation explores what happens when a literary work about libraries, secrecy, authority and knowledge moves into Arabic.

The discussion focuses on translation as interpretation: the decisions involved in carrying meaning, tone, historical references and ambiguity between languages. It positions translation as a form of knowledge-making that brings global literature into Arabic cultural and intellectual life.

The connection to the Summit’s wider AI theme remains indirect. As AI changes how texts are translated, circulated and accessed, the session foregrounds the human judgement, cultural knowledge and interpretive responsibility involved in translation.