Ark is an applied AI consultancy and venture studio working across creative production, cultural and language intelligence, and local AI systems.
With so many tools, models and platforms, knowing what to adopt can be overwhelming, especially when local languages are poorly supported, communities are misrepresented, or solutions assume resources you don’t have.
We help you choose what fits your people, purpose, languages and operating conditions: developing visual and video workflows, working with underserved languages and cultural knowledge, and adopting open-source AI with greater control over your data and deployment.
We work with businesses, public bodies, cultural organisations and research teams internationally. Engagements range from focused advisory sessions to commissioned production, pipeline development and rapid R&D.
We create AI-assisted visuals, video and multimedia for pitches, campaigns, explainers and public-interest communication. Our work spans concepts, scripts and storyboards through image generation, text-to-video, image-to-video, voice and editing. We develop localised materials and repeatable production pipelines, connecting tools, models and reusable assets with attention to creative control, visual consistency and cultural relevance.
We work with cultural collections, archives and underserved languages, connecting digital humanities research with model and data development. This includes assessing datasets, planning annotation, evaluating language and dialect performance, and reviewing bias and representation. We consider how knowledge becomes data, how models interpret it, and how context, attribution and provenance can remain visible in the resulting systems and media.
Our technical work covers open-source model selection, adaptation and integration; low-compute AI and inference optimisation; and local, private, edge and on-device deployment. We assess architectures against requirements for quality, speed, cost, connectivity and control. Our expertise also spans distributed and mesh systems, alongside agent harnesses that connect models with tools, context and execution workflows.
Through rapid R&D, we investigate emerging technologies and novel approaches, compare performance and develop experimental prototypes. Each engagement produces evidence and recommendations to guide the next decision—whether to develop an approach further, refine it or pursue another direction.
Generative film, collage, illustration and motion graphics, each in the dialect and visual style its audience needs.
We bring in specialist researchers, engineers, creative practitioners and language experts where a project requires them, working alongside clients and local teams.
Founded by Dr Ameera Kawash and Waleed Khoury, Ark brings together creative and cultural insight with product and technical expertise. Clients work directly with the founders, supported by specialist collaborators where needed.
Dr Ameera Kawash is an artist, creative technologist and researcher working across digital humanities, generative AI and product development.
At Ark, she leads creative direction and cultural AI research, developing visual narratives, digital experiences and production workflows. Her practice-led R&D explores how cultural knowledge becomes data, how models represent people and places, and how archives and cultural memory can inform technology.
An award-winning artist and researcher, Ameera holds a PhD from the Royal College of Art. Her recognition includes a S+T+ARTS Prize Africa Award of Distinction, selection as a Terra Carta finalist and an Innovate UK grant.
Waleed Khoury is a frontier technologist and technical product manager with experience spanning mesh systems, low-compute AI, open-source models and performance optimisation.
At Ark, he leads product and technical strategy, connecting research, architecture and prototyping with operational needs. He investigates emerging technologies and novel approaches, assessing their feasibility, efficiency and performance.
A former Senior Product Manager at Amazon and Entrepreneur First alumnus, Waleed combines technical experimentation with product judgment and commercial strategy. As Qareeb’s product owner, he leads its roadmap and scope, bringing together user requirements, technical development and commercial priorities.
Our research informs what we build. Building gives our research a practical test.
We work across industry, research and cultural practice, exploring how AI can better reflect the languages, knowledge and circumstances of the people using it.
Our writing, talks and workshops address cultural memory, representation in generative models, underserved languages, creative production and technological self-determination.
These questions inform our advisory work, production methods and ventures.
Qareeb is Ark’s multilingual meeting-intelligence and collaboration workspace. It turns conversations into clear records, useful outputs and next steps, with source-linked answers and control over sharing.
Building Qareeb gives us direct experience of the decisions our clients face—from product design and model evaluation to integrations and deployment planning.
Bring us a brief, a technical challenge or an idea you want to test.
