The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was ranked second in the world in societal awareness of artificial intelligence, after an opinion poll revealed a high rate of confidence of Saudi citizens in dealing with artificial intelligence products and services in the Kingdom, according to the Artificial Intelligence Index Report, in its sixth edition (Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2023) issued by the University of Riyadh. Stanford USA this April.
This report serves as a comprehensive source for policy makers, researchers, and industry professionals to better understand the current state of artificial intelligence and future trends. Which is the culmination of the digital transformation efforts led by Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman within the framework of Vision 2030, which seeks to enhance digital governance, facilitate business and raise the level of quality of life.
The survey included a number of criteria, the most important of which was the extent of “society’s knowledge of the benefits and value of artificial intelligence products and services.” Saudi Arabia ranked first in the world, equal to China and ahead of South Korea and the United States of America, in a question about “the positive impact of artificial intelligence products and services on the lives of participants.” In the survey during the next 3-5 years”, while Saudi Arabia came in second place in the world, ahead of South Korea and Brazil when talking about “whether artificial intelligence products and services will make the lives of the participants in the survey easier.” Saudi Arabia also came in second place in the world, ahead of India. France and Russia, when participants were asked “about their knowledge of the benefits and value of AI products and services.”
The report indicated the high rate of confidence of Saudi citizens in dealing with artificial intelligence products and services in the Kingdom and its positive impact in the future. This confirms the forward-looking vision of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, during which he called for building a pioneering model to unleash the value of data and artificial intelligence to build knowledge economies and advance our present and future generations.
The Kingdom's leadership is betting on Saudi youth in the digital transformation project based on the economics of artificial intelligence. As they are the main driver of it and one of the most important and largest groups benefiting from it.
The leadership’s interest in artificial intelligence is prominent, as Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Muhammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud indicated this in his speech during the G20 Summit 2019 in Osaka: “We live in a time of scientific innovations, unprecedented technologies, and unlimited growth prospects. New technologies such as: artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, if used optimally, will avoid the world a lot of harm and bring the world a lot of huge benefits.
The Kingdom's embrace of the Global Summits of Artificial Intelligence, under the patronage of the Crown Prince, confirms its excellence, superiority, and leadership until it has become a leading global model in building knowledge economies to serve present and future generations. To achieve the goals of Vision 2030.
The wise leadership’s interest in this technology was also evident by the establishment of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority “SADAIA” in 2019, to officially manage this file in the Kingdom as the competent authority in the Kingdom with data (including big data) and artificial intelligence and the national reference in everything related to them. Organizing, developing and dealing, in a way that guarantees the advancement of the Kingdom to leadership among economies based on information, data and artificial intelligence.
The Centers of Excellence launched by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SADAIA), in cooperation with a number of government agencies, have also contributed to harnessing artificial intelligence technologies to serve their goals and develop their products in the fields of research and innovation that cover all vital areas.
The Kingdom also continues its international progress in modern technical fields, foremost of which is artificial intelligence, in line with the vision and aspirations of the Crown Prince. That the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia be one of the best countries in the world in the field of artificial intelligence, and among the top 5 countries in this field.
Saudi Arabia proudly continues its efforts to compete for the first places in the world in the field of these advanced technologies, how not when in 2020 he invited all dreamers, innovators, investors and opinion leaders to join us in the Kingdom to achieve together this ambition and build a pioneering model to unleash the value of data and artificial intelligence to build knowledge economies. Upgrading our present and future generations.
With this great support, the Kingdom occupied the first place in the Arab world in 2020, and the 22nd place in the world in the global index of artificial intelligence, compared to the 29th place in the world in 2019, according to the “Tortoise Intelligence” index report, amid the great ambition of the Crown Prince that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia be one of the best countries in the world in terms of intelligence. artificial intelligence.
In order to address the ethical challenges that may arise in the areas of artificial intelligence, in 2022 the Principles of Ethics of Artificial Intelligence were launched to take public views, which have a role in facilitating the practical application of ethics during the stages of the life cycle of developing artificial intelligence systems, and supporting initiatives to develop research, development and innovation in the Kingdom. In the same year, it joined the Digital Development Partnership under the umbrella of the World Bank, which is a collaborative partnership between the public and private sectors to help developing countries benefit from digital innovations. to solve some of the most challenging issues.
SADAIA intensified the awareness aspect of artificial intelligence and its uses, including its organization of the two global summits of artificial intelligence during the years 2020 and 2022, in addition to the role of SADAIA Academy in providing qualitative knowledge for trainees, ensuring compatibility between education outputs and market needs, and publishing knowledge studies, and also prepared a data and artificial intelligence dictionary that aims To facilitate the concepts of data and artificial intelligence terms and contains more than (1000) terms with their definition.
The roles and achievements achieved by the Kingdom in the field of artificial intelligence and its applications were reflected in the digitization of government services provided to citizens and residents through advanced applications such as: the Absher application, which is supervised by the Ministry of Interior and made it easier for its users to obtain the vital services a person needs in his life with just a click of a button.
In addition, “Sadaia” provided the Tawakkalna application, services and other service applications that benefited the citizen and the resident, and these successful roles contributed to activating the role of small and medium companies and entrepreneurs to contribute to building and raising the country, within the framework of government work organized in cooperation with the private sector in accordance with Saudi Vision 2030. The National Center for Artificial Intelligence in “Sadaia” also launched the advanced “Your Voice” system to convert speech into texts based on voice recognition techniques, in cooperation with the Saudi Company for Artificial Intelligence (Sky), wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund.
The Kingdom presented the world with the best picture of the application of artificial intelligence technologies through the city of the future, “The Line”, which is a gift from the Crown Prince to humanity in how to plan cities during the next 150 years, and how the Kingdom adapts artificial intelligence solutions and data to build sustainable societies.
Among the results of artificial intelligence techniques in the Kingdom is the use of geospatial data in stopping desertification, indiscriminate agriculture, and preserving the environment. Saudi Aramco has the largest industrial use of data and artificial intelligence, as it used methane sensors, the Internet of things, data, and artificial intelligence to provide the cleanest activities in the refining and chemicals sector. Marketing to the world.
On the academic side, the role of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has emerged, as a center of excellence in data science and artificial intelligence has been established with SADAIA, in addition to other scientific roles played by our public and private universities in order to develop their academic curricula that teach artificial intelligence science. In its various fields, which will contribute to building a Saudi generation capable of dealing with these technologies professionally.
The Ministry of Health invested in artificial intelligence, and worked in cooperation with “SADAIA” to establish a center of excellence in artificial intelligence through which priority diseases (such as breast cancer and diabetic retinopathy) are identified and smart solutions are developed to contribute to early prediction of such diseases.
The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, in partnership with “SDAYA”, launched the first specialized center in the Kingdom and the Middle East for sustainability solutions and applications, called the “Artificial Intelligence Center in Environment, Water and Agriculture”, and the “Smart Planet” program, as part of the national priorities to find innovative solutions to help take advantage of the potential of resources. unexploited and sustainable by applying the latest artificial intelligence technologies.
Artificial intelligence remains the talk of the present and tomorrow, especially in terms of building smart cities that the Kingdom is working on in order to raise the level of city services and improve the quality of life in order to serve humanity and reach limitless horizons in investing in data and information technology, in order to make the difference towards a better tomorrow, God willing. God is in our country, where these technologies have entered various aspects of private and public life.
Okaz (Riyadh)
