Episode Details

After stepping off stage from moderating a panel, a Senior Frontend Developer from Capgemini waited to say hello. She asked for a quick photo, and within minutes, we were deep in conversation about hackathons, women in tech, mentoring, and the pride she felt watching Egypt host a platform of this scale.

Her name is Alaa Ali Kortoma, and what began as a quick introduction turned into her very first podcast appearance.

In today's episode, you will hear directly from someone on the ground in Cairo about what AI Everywhere means to her, to Egypt, and to a generation of more than 750,000 graduates entering the workforce each year. We talk about bridging the gap between academia and industry, shrinking the distance between startups and investors, and why she believes AI represents opportunity rather than replacement.

If AI really is everywhere, it should look like a possibility. It should look like inclusion. It should look like young women mentoring at hackathons. It should look like national strategies focused on responsible adoption and skills development.

So let me beam your ears to Cairo and introduce you to Alaa Ali Kortoma.

And after spending three days at AI Everything MEA, what does AI Everywhere mean to me?

It is not hype. It is not a headline. It is policymakers embedding AI into public services. It is engineers building Arabic language models tailored to local needs. It is healthcare systems using AI to detect disease earlier. It is investors listening to founders. It is young professionals investing in themselves.

One phrase from this conversation will stay with me long after the microphones were turned off. Proud and full of possibility.

Over