Generative artificial intelligence in topic-sentiment classification for Arabic text: a comparative study with possible future directions

Social media platforms have become essential for disseminating news and expressing individual sentiments on various life topics. Arabic, widely used in the Middle East, presents unique challenges for sentiment analysis due to its complexity and multiple dialects. Motivated by the need to address these challenges, this article develops methods to overcome the lack of topic-based labeling techniques, compares different approaches for preparing extensive, annotated datasets, and analyzes the efficacy of machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), and large language models (LLMs) in classifying Arabic textual data. Our research utilizes the topic-modeling technique to build a topic-based sentiment dataset of Arabic texts aimed at enhancing our understanding and processing capabilities. We present a comprehensive evaluation of dataset balancing techniques, including under-sampling, over-sampling, and using imbalanced datasets, providing insights into how these approaches impact classification outcomes. Additionally, we explore the influence of dataset sizes on the performance of various ML models, highlighting the importance of dataset scale in developing effective Arabic NLP applications. A further focus of our study is the comparative analysis of generative artificial intelligence (AI) models, including the emerging ChatGPT LLM, assessing their effectiveness in managing the complexities of Arabic language classification tasks. Our results show that support vector machines (SVM) achieved the highest performance, with F1-scores of 0.97 and 0.96 in classifying sentiment and topic, respectively, in Arabic tweets. This research not only benchmarks existing methodologies but also paves the way for more nuanced and robust models in the future, enhancing the application of generative AI in Arabic topic-based sentiment analysis.