https://arab.news/g87pc
For the past two years, the global conversation on artificial intelligence has been framed almost entirely as a duel between the US and China. Europe, meanwhile, has cast itself as referee, debating guardrails, ethics and regulatory frameworks while struggling to convert process into capability. Lost in this binary is a more consequential development. Saudi Arabia is executing one of the most ambitious national AI strategies in the world — and doing so at scale.
This is not rhetoric. It is infrastructure, capital, talent and governance moving in concert. While many advanced economies are still arguing about how to regulate AI, Saudi Arabia is building the physical, human and institutional foundations needed to deploy it across an entire society.
At the center of this push is Vision 2030, which treats AI not as a niche technology sector but as a strategic enabler of national power on par with energy, finance or logistics. The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority launched a national AI strategy in 2020 and, by 2024, the Kingdom was ranked first globally for government AI strategy. That ranking matters not because of prestige but because it reflects political alignment, clear priorities set at the top, agencies empowered to execute and capital mobilized to deliver.
