Crown Prince to announce 3 tech strategies: Al-Swaha

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swaha, speaking during a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Davos Forum

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has three strategies that will be announced soon, including positioning the Kingdom among the world’s top five hubs for artificial intelligence training, said Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swaha.

Speaking during a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Davos Forum, Al-Swaha highlighted that Saudi Arabia’s prosperity and growth have become evident, with the Kingdom’s digital economy growing from SAR 75 billion to SAR 135 billion in less than nine years.

He added that the technology workforce in the Kingdom is now equivalent to the fifth-largest tech workforce in Europe, and that the number of unicorn startups in the region has seen notable growth.

Saudi Arabia seeks to be a conscious and responsible partner, said the minister, pointing out that the world’s second-largest endowment has allocated one-third of its funds to AI safety at the direction of the Crown Prince. He also stressed that efforts are underway to establish an AI engineering hub to leverage the Kingdom’s large pool of talent.