tl;dr:
- Oman introduces
YASMINA anArabic speaking AI An assistant who mimics human interactions.
- This is part of the push for the country's digital transformation, providing real-time information and smart services via voice.
- AI is designed to be emotionally intelligent, culturally recognized and accessible through smart kiosks and mobile apps.
- Yasmina was developed in collaboration with the Omani Tech team to support the delivery of public services and aims to strengthen Omani's AI ecosystem.
Yasmina is a bilingual AI assistant fluent in both Karidi Arabic and English, developed by the Yango Group for users in Oman and the wider GCC region. Integrated with Yasmina Smart Speakers (MIDI, MINI, LITE) and the Yango Play app, Yasmina is designed to resonate culturally and provide highly personal audio interactions. Her advanced conversational skills come from Yangoai's upgraded leading language model (LLM) and are tailored to the reliability of the local dialect and context. Trained with diverse local voices and linguistics experts, Yasmina goes beyond traditional assistants and offers empathy, humor and human-like dialogue rooted in Kalisi culture.
Why Yasmina is important: Digital Alliance of Oman's Vision 2040
Yango Group works with Oman Vision 2040 to introduce Yasmina to enhance access to digital literacy, local innovation and technology across households, schools and communities. ITHCA Group, the investment arm of the Sovereign Fund in Oman, praised Yasmina as a tool to implement AI in a pragmatic and user-friendly format for families, students and digital beginners. According to the Gulf Project, Islam's Abdul Karim, head of Yango Middle East, said Yasmina is part of a broader mission to provide technology that has become a form of everyday life. He emphasized that Yasmina will promote AI access and strategically align with Oman's willingness to technology independence and digital transformation.
Key features tailored for Omani and GCC users
Locally related content
- Provide prayer time to Muscat (and other cities) based on the Hijri and Gregoria calendar
- Play Adhanz and Sula from the Quran on user's request
- We recommend traditional Omani recipes such as Shuwa and offer itineraries to local sites like Wadi Shab
Culturally aware conversations
- Understand and respond along with other GCC dialects at Khaleeji Arabic
- It can hold dynamic, humorous and empathetic dialogue, increasing user comfort and trust
Educational support and daily life assistance
- Simplify complex topics and support lifelong learning
- Provides interactive storytelling, bilingual translation, brainstorming, creative writing prompts, and even riddles for kids
- Manage routine tasks via voice commands: reminders, timers, answers to common questions
- Control your smart home devices: dim lights, thermostat adjustments, ambient sound playback, and more.
Under the hood: technology fixed to culture
- Custom Large Language Models
Yasmina is powered by Yangoai's proprietary LLM and is designed to support high-quality responses in Arabic and English. This model handles information that is up to 38% more relevant in Arabic, with significantly less rejection than previous versions, providing richer context-conscious conversations. The extensive training data includes a variety of Arabic dialects and audio patterns collected from cities such as Riyadh, Jeddah and Dhammam, ensuring Yasmina understands variations in pronunciation, slang and style nuances.
- Human surveillance and community engagement
Hundreds of local dialect experts and content contributors participated in the development of Yasmina, including naming assistants through public feedback. This crowdsourced approach has improved language reliability and local relevance.
Product Access and Platform Integration
Smart speakers available
- Yasmina Mini (compact, perfect for private spaces)
- Yasmina Midi (larger speaker with multicolor LEDs and enhanced microphone array)
- Yasmina Lite (entry level).
The speakers are ready for retail in Oman and the United Arab Emirates, sold at outlets such as Virgin Megastore, Sharaf DG and via platforms such as noon.com (pricing at around AED 279-449 in the UAE). The full suite of Yasmina features (including entertainment, smart home integration, local services and AI responses) requires an active subscription to Yango Play, the Yango Group's multi-function entertainment platform available throughout GCC.
Real-world use cases
Family members can ask Yasmina to set prayer reminders, play Sula, plan local outings, cook traditional meals, and ask for calm children with bedtime stories. Smart home commands (such as lighting and music control) are also supported.
- Education and language learning
At schools and homes, Yasmina simplifies classroom topics, helping learners to grasp Arabic and English and encourage interactive thinking through questions and games. For individuals, tasks like translation, travel planning, creativity prompts, financial explanations, emotional support, and more are all easily started via Yasmina's conversation interface.
Issues and future outlook
Achieving emotional resonance and culturally sensitive dialogues relies heavily on continuous LLM refinement and language updates. Although early local beta feedback was a positive, quality scaling remains a priority.
- A balance between privacy and ease of use
As a voice assistant, Yasmina must ensure the data privacy and opt-in user control included in the Speaker Hardware and App interface. Yango Group plans to add support for local dialects, content features and app integration. Yasmina is becoming a central voice interface across the GCC smart ecosystem, including banking, education and public services.Yasmina is more than a voice assistant, and represents a change in the AI design philosophy. This technology is built around cultural relevance and everyday practicality. By blending advanced AI and understanding of local dialects with local content, Yasmina allows users to interact naturally and meaningfully. From the classroom to the living room, Yasmina's Oman presence tells us a new era in which AI is not merely clever and is personally related.
