Produced by Khaled Koubaa as part of the Mozilla Foundation Fellowship (Technology & Society · 2025), this report maps the intersection of artificial intelligence and artistic practice across the Middle East and Africa; a region whose voices are too often absent from dominant global narratives on technology and creativity. The Mozilla Fellowship program connects fellows with host organizations, and it is through this framework that L'Art Rue became the study's host. Drawing on the organization's experience and engagement with the arts sector, the study's focus was jointly shaped, and L'Art Rue facilitated access to relevant actors, notably during Dream City Festival 2025 in Tunis.

This study is intended as an analysis rather than a policy document. It takes stock of the real conditions in which artists and cultural organizations encounter AI: infrastructures, costs, access to tools, language, authorship, labor, and institutional readiness. Its central finding: AI in the region is shaped less by abstract technological enthusiasm than by deeply unequal socio-technical conditions. Yet artists and cultural practitioners are not passive recipients of these technologies. They are already adapting tools, challenging their limitations, and forging pathways toward more grounded, context-sensitive, and culturally meaningful forms of experimentation.

The report thus charts pathways toward dignified, equitable, and culturally rooted technological futures; centering the voices of creative communities across the Middle East and Africa.

Key Highlights

• Geographic scope: Middle East and Africa, with Tunisia as the primary field of reference.
• Field grounding: documentary research and field observations facilitated by L'Art Rue during the Dream City 2025 festival in Tunis.
• Format: full public report accompanied by a policy brief available in three languages (English, French, Arabic) for cultural institutions.
• Core themes: infrastructure and access, language, artistic practice, labor, authorship, rights, ethics, and institutional support.
• Scope: standalone AI tools, creative software with integrated AI features, and platform-level AI systems shaping artistic production and distribution.

The full report and policy brief are available for download and online reading at dreamingdigital.art.

This study is authored by the fellow, who retains full intellectual property rights over its content, and is published under a Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. The views and conclusions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of L’Art Rue or Mozilla Foundation. The author is responsible for the accuracy of the information presented and for ensuring that the work meets standards of originality, including the appropriate use and acknowledgment of all sources and materials