Saudi Arabia Leads the Gulf & Arab Worlds in Artificial Intelligence

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has made significant strides in artificial intelligence, demonstrating its unparalleled achievements in this field and its wide range of applications, embracing the highest standards of cutting-edge technology, amid the continuous positive transformation that has encircled all crucial and operational sectors since the introduction of Vision 2030.

Notably, the International Artificial Intelligence Index has placed it first in the Arab and Gulf worlds and fourteenth globally since 2024.

By: Mohsen Hassan

The Saudi leadership, led by King Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and his Crown Prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is eager to improve the Kingdom’s standing and its right to become a regional and international leader in artificial intelligence, as evidenced by the Kingdom’s recent rapid rise of more than 16 spots among the more than 80 countries included in this global index.

This is particularly true considering the advancements and successes of the national and governmental strategy for investing in AI technologies. This leadership has been successful in fortifying the commercial and environmental frameworks that set the stage for a more prominent role in Saudi Arabia’s technological leadership in the years to come.

A Thriving Marketplace

According to the Saudi leadership, artificial intelligence is a thriving local, regional, and global economic market. In addition, it maintains that this field is always ready to support the nation’s national reform strategies’ financial and investment goals.

One of the most important reasons for this is probably the fact that this field is beneficial in and of itself. When one relies on it, patterns and levels emerge that can be applied in numerous operational and professional contexts.

It also offers good mechanisms that can improve the level of national competencies across all sectors. In turn, this advances traditional and automated infrastructure, fosters talent development, improves production, and advances the fundamentals of scientific research and development.

This aligns perfectly with the Kingdom’s plan for economic diversification, which seeks to free itself from the constraints imposed by oil rents. Given this, the goal of Saudi Arabia’s present reform initiatives is to create a cutting-edge, data-driven smart economy that can support and grow a fresh, developing market for wise investments.

The Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA) has made this goal a top priority because it understands how difficult it will be to accomplish in this situation, particularly given the growing regional and global competition in this area.

Digital Field

The positive development in Saudi Arabia’s economic and service dynamics is attributed to the societal response towards AI technologies and their various field applications, demonstrating the country’s commitment to these advancements. Saudis now have a much better understanding of the social and health advantages of using e-services. Thus, the Saudi government can increase the adoption rates of digital technologies and invest more in the local market.

The use of AI robots, whose ongoing development in the Kingdom has become a fundamental factor in the growth of the technology market and the spread of machine learning, autonomous control, and sensing applications because of the widespread use of robots in various industries and banking services, is one example of how Saudi citizens have grown accustomed to the manifestations of the use of technology applications in various services.

The technological culture of Saudis has changed as a result of this, which has also been seen in a number of business and medical transactions. Technological behaviour has changed from traditionalism and stereotyping to innovation, experimenting with technical and technological savvy, and employing them in all service and production sectors. This is especially true for young people.

Consumer trends have changed as a result of different local Saudi markets. The rise of many startups and technological and investment initiatives from both domestic and foreign investors has fuelled economic growth, opened up new job opportunities and decreased unemployment, and raised the bar for digital transformation in Saudi society.

Read more: Humain, an AI Startup, is Launched in Saudi Arabia

Geography of Technology

With the proliferation of innovation, research, and operational centres and facilities, as well as specialised institutes and colleges in the technical and technological field, it was only natural for the features of the technical geography to shift throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia within the context of the previously mentioned digital public space.

For instance, the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) has many highly innovative facilities, including the Deep Technologies Laboratory and the Garage, which serves as a gathering spot for startups and businesses involved in technology and innovation. Additionally, it hosts various business accelerator programmes, including GAIA, an accelerator for generative artificial intelligence.

Even though Saudi Arabia has many research and technology centres spread throughout the country, particularly in the capital, Riyadh, there are also facilities devoted to remote technical work. Using artificial intelligence technologies, the Seha Virtual Hospital, one of the biggest ecologically friendly digital hospitals worldwide, offers medical and therapeutic services remotely.

Naturally, the Saudi Space Agency, in particular the Space Future Centre, which upholds the highest standards for superior AI technologies in space exploration, provides AI applications for astronomy and space as part of the Kingdom’s national technology ecosystem. According to estimates for 2024, the Saudi space market will reach 7.1 billion Saudi riyals, and the Saudi space economy will reach over 30 billion Saudi riyals. This is especially true considering the sizeable budgets allotted for investment and financial support.

Since Rayyanah Barnawi, the first Saudi and Arab female astronaut, emerged, the Kingdom has produced several Saudi and Arab astronauts in the space sector, including the ability to graduate a number of female astronauts.

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Saudi Excellence

All specialised technical evaluations and indicators indicate that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has more success factors than any other Gulf or Arab nation, making it more likely to attain higher future positions in the fields of artificial intelligence and technological leadership.

According to official data released by the Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA), artificial intelligence accounts for over 65% of Saudi Vision 2030’s overall strategic objectives. The level of technical assistance offered by Saudi sovereign funds, particularly the Public Investment Fund (PIF), attests to this.

Since the vision’s inception, the PIF has helped the Kingdom acquire a cutting-edge AI infrastructure that will be challenging for rivals in the region to match in the future. Saudi Arabia’s exploratory data centres will have a capacity of over 2,100 megawatts, surpassing the UAE’s 500 megawatt capacity. This advantage comes from Saudi Arabia’s global dominance in energy and financial markets, and its recent technological partnership with the US.

With the Saudi government’s ongoing official and financial support for this system, it will unavoidably be able to grow its sophisticated databases and centres. The creation of a significant artificial intelligence business under the Public Investment Fund’s aegis, with audacious investments exceeding $9.5 billion, will be one of its current and future priorities.

Furthermore, significant investment partnerships have been formed with technology, intelligence, and technology pioneers from multinational corporations with a long history in this area, including Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Oracle, and Equinix.

These collaborations will generate more than $40 billion in investment funds in the Kingdom, which will help to fortify Saudi Arabia’s artificial intelligence infrastructure over the coming years, either by developing it or by establishing hubs and locations for related technologies.

Read more: Saudi Arabia is the World’s Leader in AI Technology Adoption

Obstacles & Bets

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia faces challenges in establishing long-term regional leadership in macro and micro-AI due to constant regional competition and logistical difficulties, as well as the need for ongoing leadership in such an important field.

The Kingdom faces challenges in providing sustainable energy for AI centres and cloud computing storage areas, with a current energy capacity of 300 megawatts. Future expansion is necessary to meet the growing demand for more energy.

The Kingdom is leveraging its operational, energy, and investment capacity to achieve its goals, aided by the international and regional technical conflict between the United States and China. Both parties aim to attract partners from all sides. Washington has welcomed the fulfilment of Riyadh’s technical and technological ambitions, thereby enhancing the overall strategic partnership between the two nations and the Gulf region.

The Biden administration has lifted restrictions on the export of electronic artificial intelligence chips, enabling Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia to accelerate the production of local AI models like GPT-OpenAI-DeepSeek, thereby accelerating the pace of artificial intelligence production.

Indeed, increasing technical learning rates and improving the calibre of young technical graduates—particularly in the area of artificial intelligence—will be among Saudi Arabia’s challenges in this regard. The Saudi government is taking into consideration all of these issues and more, and it is making every effort to overcome them and clear the path for future challenges.

In order to localise the technologies, mechanisms, scientific, and cognitive models required to advance Saudi human capital towards horizons more capable of achieving national independence in the technology and artificial intelligence, it is necessary to continuously seek out more promising expertise from different regions and countries.

Read more: KSA Intends to Launch Fresh Artificial Intelligence Initiative