Gauging the pulse of a nation with ArtBeat

While AI-generated art is not a new phenomenon in the digital landscape, the scale and technology powering Qatar ArtBeat made the initiative incredibly impressive. Reaching over 5.4m people, it earned a Guinness World Record for ‘Most People Contributing to an AI-Generated Image’.

“From a marketing perspective, Qatar ArtBeat shifted the narrative from formal, top-down storytelling to participatory, people-driven and accessible narratives. This inclusive approach demonstrated the power of co-creation in building emotional connections,” says Nadim El Khoury, Director of Marketing & Public Relations, Media City Qatar.

Spearheaded by creative media agency ID8 Media for Media City Qatar (MCQ), this first-of-its-kind activation set a benchmark for the integration of art, technology and community engagement. It demonstrated the potential of AI to unify people and amplify their voices in a way previously untouched. Qatar ArtBeat leveraged advanced Google Cloud AI capabilities to collect participants’ sentiments and transform them into an evocative visual.

The first step in activating the Qatar ArtBeat initiative was to foster meaningful dialogue around National Day. MCQ invited citizens and residents to share their memories and feelings on its social media channels between December 9 and 17. Participants were urged to answer questions such as ‘What does Qatar mean to you?’ and ‘What is your favourite childhood memory of Qatar National Day?’ The initiative also incorporated sentiments from broader public conversations about Qatar National Day 2024. Notably, both English-and Arabic-language texts were included in the initiative, ensuring that every voice was represented.

As responses started coming in, ID8’s AI platform initiated the process of extracting insights and analysing sentiments, explains Ali Husseini, Partner with ID8. At the heart of the project is its proprietary Sentiment Analysis Tool (SAT), which utilised Google Cloud technologies such as Vertex AI, Gemini and BigQuery.

“We used this tool to analyse the participants’ text responses and monitored public social media conversations about Qatar National Day using APIs (application programming interfaces) such as X.Com, Hootsuite and Instagram. The latter was used to integrate SAT with social media platforms, while X.com facilitated the continuous capture of real-time streams of tweets and posts. Asynchronous messaging service Pub/Sub was used for streaming analytics and data integration too.”

The next step in the process was data structuring and storage.

“This was essential for smooth downstream analysis and visualisation. Cloud functions were used to parse the tweets and posts into predefined structures and extract relevant information such as the text of the tweet, and metadata including timestamp, username, hashtags and mentions. This processed and structured data was then stored in Firestore, a real-time NoSQL database chosen for its efficiency in data retrieval.”

Once the raw data was organised, SAT kicked into action. AI and ML (machine learning) were activated to transform the structured data into meaningful insights. This included the use of Vertex AI-powered natural language processing (NLP) models to assess the sentiment of each post. Posts were segregated and tagged based on three categories: positive, negative and neutral (informational or unbiased posts). Next, AI models summarised similar posts and hashtags to create contextually relevant narratives.

“These narratives highlighted trends, recurring themes and emotional undertones, serving as the foundation for the visual artwork,” Omar Abdelqader, CEO of ID8, says.

Similar stories were grouped together and converted into text prompts to describe the desired visual concept. Vertex AI’s image generation module, Gemini, then translated these prompts into high-quality images. Google Cloud’s Cloud Run was employed to create mosaics representing overarching themes with the images. Simultaneously, SAT also deployed Big Query and Big Query ML to generate engagement metrics, sentiment trends and demographic insights.

This data was not only used to analyse trends but also to improve SAT, adds Abdelqader. “In fact, it was used to train new AI models for enhanced sentiment analysis and narrative generation.”

In addition to its advanced AI capabilities, ID8’s Sentiment Analysis Tool offered users an intuitive and friendly user interface (UI), ensuring seamless navigation and easy accessibility. The project dashboard featured a comprehensive view of the processed data, along with separate sections for managing tweets, reviewing generated stories and images, and analysing sentiments. It also provided real-time insights into participant engagement, sentiment trends, keywords and thematic highlights.

“These analytics offered a deeper understanding of community dynamics during the initiative. Since the analysis was real-time, it ensured that operations were smooth and continuous,” says Husseini.

For a project of this magnitude, advanced security was a top priority, he explains. To tackle this, SAT includes advanced security features such as credential management and data encryption. Sensitive user data, like API keys, are securely stored using a secret manager. Further, all stored data, including structured tweets, stories, images and mosaics, are encrypted using Cloud Key Management Services (KMS). Its cloud logging capabilities enabled tracking of all system events, including API interactions and errors, for debugging.

“By automating the entire workflow, SAT provided a seamless and efficient way to convert raw social media data into actionable insights and visually engaging content,” Husseini explains.

In addition to the technology, the magnitude of Qatar ArtBeat is another aspect that sets the initiative apart. The final image – the amalgamation of 23,738 user contributions and 70,904 social media engagements – was unveiled on December 18, Qatar’s National Day. It was projected across prominent locations around the country including the Corniche, Lusail City and Katara Cultural Village. The artwork was also showcased on MCQ’s social platforms.

“Through Qatar ArtBeat, MCQ has showcased Qatar’s ability to cultivate digital spaces focused on inclusivity, accessibility and empowerment. This activation transformed individual reflections into observations of community trends, shared values and unity,” explains MCQ’s El Khoury.

Qatar ArtBeat broke barriers in community engagement and united the nation around a creative and groundbreaking initiative, he says proudly. Setting a benchmark in the integration of art, technology and community engagement, it showcased how culture and technology can be symbiotic.

“We were honoured to contribute to Qatar ArtBeat, a celebration of creativity and innovation,” says Husseini. “Our mission has always been to bridge the gap between art and technology, and being part of this vibrant platform aligns perfectly with our values. By leveraging our expertise, including sentiment analysis tool, we aim to amplify the voices of artists and foster meaningful connections within the creative community. Qatar ArtBeat is a testament to the power of collaboration, and we are proud to play a role in its success.”