Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched a new company to develop and manage artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in Saudi Arabia on Monday, a top priority of its economic diversification drive.
US President Donald Trump travels to Saudi Arabia this week, the first stop on his Gulf tour, and AI is expected to be a major discussion point during Tuesday's joint Saudi-US investment forum in Riyadh.
The kingdom, the world's biggest crude exporter, is undergoing a significant economic and social transformation under its Vision 2030 programme which aims to wean the economy off its oil dependency.
It wants to develop AI technology and infrastructure — including data centres — and has ambitions to establish the kingdom as a global centre for AI, pitching itself as a prospective hub for AI activity outside the US.
Chaired by bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, the new company, Humain, will operate under the Public Investment Fund, and offer AI services and products, including data centres, AI infrastructure, cloud capabilities and advanced AI models, the state news agency reported.
Earlier this year, cloud software seller Salesforce said that it planned to invest $500m (R9.15bn) in Saudi Arabia related to artificial intelligence.
Reuters
Saudi crown prince launches new company to develop AI technologies
Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched a new company to develop and manage artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in Saudi Arabia on Monday, a top priority of its economic diversification drive.
US President Donald Trump travels to Saudi Arabia this week, the first stop on his Gulf tour, and AI is expected to be a major discussion point during Tuesday's joint Saudi-US investment forum in Riyadh.
The kingdom, the world's biggest crude exporter, is undergoing a significant economic and social transformation under its Vision 2030 programme which aims to wean the economy off its oil dependency.
It wants to develop AI technology and infrastructure — including data centres — and has ambitions to establish the kingdom as a global centre for AI, pitching itself as a prospective hub for AI activity outside the US.
Chaired by bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, the new company, Humain, will operate under the Public Investment Fund, and offer AI services and products, including data centres, AI infrastructure, cloud capabilities and advanced AI models, the state news agency reported.
Earlier this year, cloud software seller Salesforce said that it planned to invest $500m (R9.15bn) in Saudi Arabia related to artificial intelligence.
Reuters
READ MORE:
China's AI-powered humanoid robots aim to transform manufacturing
Google developing software AI agent ahead of annual conference: report
Nations meet at UN for 'killer robot' talks as regulation lags
AI execs say US must increase exports, improve infrastructure to beat China
US FDA centres to deploy AI internally, following experimental run
Saudi Arabia sits on fence over Brics with eye on vital ties with US
Qatar signs deal with Scale AI to use AI to boost government services
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
News and promos in your inbox
subscribeMost read
Latest Videos