How MBZUAI’s Incubation and Entrepreneurship Center is helping two students revolutionize content creation

A new AI-driven audio production platform created by two Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) students could revolutionize the world of content creation; automating audio tasks for visual storytelling and mitigating licensing challenges.

Audiomatic is the brainchild of Ph.D. student Muhammad Taimoor Haseeb, and master’s student Ahmad Hammoudeh — both of the machine learning department. As self-confessed “music and content creation junkies”, they wanted to “remove the heavy lifting” for people making an advert, movie scene, social media post, or anything in between.

Muhammad Taimoor Haseeb

“We somewhat understood the pain points where music and content creation collide,” said Haseeb about the genesis of Audiomatic. “For example, ad agencies want to quickly create concept demos for clients without wasting time looking for the perfect audio elements. Or someone is working on a documentary related to the Gerewol festival but can’t find appropriate background music in mainstream music libraries. We wanted to find solutions to these challenges.”

To explain how the platform works, Haseeb said: “Adding music to a video is typically a manual process. You go to an online music library, add some rough filters like genre or mood, and start listening until you find something that fits the bill. If you need sound effects or a voice over, you rinse and repeat. With Audiomatic, you simply upload your video to our website, and our platform finds the perfect audio elements for your masterpiece.”

Licensing considerations are also taken care of through Audiomatic, reducing the potential for people’s work to be demonetized on social media, or risk more serious consequences across conventional media types.

The duo said they have been on a “rollercoaster of blood sweat and tears” en route to developing their AI models for the platform, but have not been alone on their journey.

Ahmad Hammoudeh

“Once we had a working prototype we realised we were going to need a load of cash and some serious guidance to make this thing fly,” said Haseeb. “We started to look at who at MBZUAI might be able to help us, and caught wind that the IEC was gearing up to launch.”

The IEC — MBZUAI’s Incubation and Entrepreneurship Center — launched in 2023 to help AI innovators commercialise their ideas. Aspiring to be MENA’s leading AI-native incubator, the IEC blends the technical substance of AI with mentorship, funding opportunities, networking events and strategic business insights.

“The IEC folks have been absolute champions, swooping in with all the support, patience and generosity we could dream of,” said Haseeb, who – along with Hammoudeh – took part in the centre’s entrepreneurship course in November 2023, followed by a Demo Day pitch in December, and a mentoring program in January 2024.

“Neither of us knew anything about running a business,” he continued. “The course was very well structured, with all sorts of wisdom from experts. They shared advice on everything from turning a wild idea into a business to navigating the legal stuff, and even talked about how to pitch ideas and convince others to get onboard.

“When we first walked in, all we had was a bunch of code and a dream. When we came out we had an incredible appreciation for the journey ahead of us. Perhaps, most importantly, we learned that we weren’t alone, and that we could reach out to the right folks to help guide us.”

With advice from their mentor, Elli Yiannakaris, and a POC (proof of concept) grant of AED 70,000 from their Demo Day pitch, Haseeb and Hammoudeh are focused on the next stage of Audiomatic’s growth.

“We have the tech side mostly figured out, so our focus now is the front and back end development and launching our MVP,” said Haseeb. “We will try to get customers to give us feedback, improve our platform and repeat the process.”

Looking further ahead, the duo aim to forge partnerships with musicians and sound engineers to ensure their platform is working with people rather than replacing them. “We’re not about replacing people with machines,” said Haseeb. “Our goal isn’t just success; it’s about creating a community,   a tribe, where everyone feels valued and inspired.”

And as they work towards this goal, they expressed gratitude for the support they’ve received from their academic advisor at MBZUAI, Dr Gus Xia — assistant professor of machine learning.

“Dr. Xia has been incredible. Technically, he’s the best in the world when it comes to using AI/ML for music. Every time we meet him, he leaves us with ideas that completely change our way of thinking about the product. We couldn’t have wished for a better advisor — having him in our corner is pure gold.”