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Applied AI in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's AI record runs through water, oil and food — an AI platform across the water value chain, hybrid AI in Aramco's refinery planning — under the National Strategy for Data and AI launched in 2020.
Your essential monthly update on Applied AI, with Saudi Arabia specially tracked.
Services 48.9% · Industry 43% · Agriculture 2.6% of gross value added — World Bank, 2025
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SDAIA has issued a national framework for managing AI risk.
Evidence of adoptionGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia15 Sep 2026
Saudi AI training passes 1.2 million people, beating its target
Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) — AI skills training in Saudi Arabia has passed 1.2 million completions under Samai, beyond the one million sought, said Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority head Abdullah Al-Ghamdi. He spoke in Riyadh as the fourth UNESCO Global Forum on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence opened, showcasing national artificial intelligence upskilling.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia15 Sep 2026
Board of Grievances approves AI governance framework
Board of Grievances — Saudi Arabia's Board of Grievances has adopted an AI governance framework judicial administration bodies will follow, signed by president Dr Ali bin Ahmed Al-Ohaydib. It covers artificial intelligence across court processes, administration and online services: secure data handling, accountable use, alignment with domestic law. This AI regulation in the judiciary builds on principles published in March 2026, with checks assigned to the Office of Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies. Approval coincided with the UNESCO Global Forum on the Ethics of AI in Riyadh.
DeploymentGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia3 Sep 2026
Saudi Ministry of Justice to launch AI-powered Najiz, builds Mizan for courts
Saudi Ministry of Justice — Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Justice will soon release an upgraded Najiz with AI that asks users what they need and routes them to the right service, Najiz platform director Abdulrahman Al-Shaghdali said at LEAP 2026 in Riyadh. Internal testing precedes public release. The ministry is also building Mizan, court AI to speed judges' case analysis; Najiz serves about 180,000 people daily.
Evidence of adoptionGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia31 Aug 2026
Saudi Arabia offers 27 million people a year of free AI creative tools
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (Saudi Arabia) — AI creative tools in Saudi Arabia go free for a year to 27 million eligible citizens and residents aged 13 or over, under a widened Ministry of Communications and Information Technology deal with HUMAIN and Adobe. Adobe puts the giveaway above 4 billion dollars and set it out at LEAP 2026, covering 12 months of Adobe Firefly Standard plus Adobe Express Premium. National access to generative artificial intelligence also brings a joint HUMAIN image model on Adobe Firefly Foundry, weighted toward Saudi visual and cultural reference.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia14 Jul 2026
Saudi Arabia issues a national framework for managing AI risks
Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) — The Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) has launched the National Framework for AI Risk Management in Riyadh, for government and private bodies. It sets a national method to identify, assess, treat and monitor AI-system risks, which SDAIA says differ from ordinary software because behaviour may shift in use and outputs resist explanation or reproduction. The framework is non-binding guidance.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia5 Jul 2026
Saudi cyber authority drafts AI security rules for agents
National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA) — New AI security rules for agents in Saudi Arabia bring agentic and generative technologies under review via draft AI Cybersecurity Guidelines from the National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA), open for comment until 5 August 2026. Four pillars structure the proposal: governance, defence, resilience, third-party risk — an early regional step on autonomous-system safeguards. No AI governance timeline has surfaced since.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia8 Jun 2026
SDAIA issues 10 AI regulatory documents in June 2026 package
Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) — The Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) has issued 10 documents shaping Saudi Arabia AI regulation on ethical, responsible use. The set anchors national AI rules for deployment across the Kingdom, reinforcing SDAIA's governance role in the Year of Artificial Intelligence 2026. It covers deepfake guidelines, AI ethics principles, generative AI principles aimed at government entities and the public, a national data and AI professional standards framework, and an academic qualifications framework for the AI specialty.
DeploymentGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia31 May 2026
KACST and Public Security launch Roya AI platform for Hajj site security
King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and General Directorate of Public Security — Saudi Arabia's KACST, working with the General Directorate of Public Security, unveiled Roya, delivering AI crowd monitoring Hajj coverage at the holy sites. Merging GIS with orbital pictures, the tool measures congestion, follows pedestrian and vehicle movement, and pinpoints heat zones across some 2,000 images plus 126 aerial missions spanning Hajj and Umrah, with automated crowd density tracking spanning raw capture through live output.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia3 Apr 2026
SDAIA opens draft Responsible AI Policy for public consultation
Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) — Saudi Arabia's SDAIA has floated a draft Responsible AI Policy for public comment, reaching state and private bodies via Istitlaa, due 3 May 2026. This Saudi AI regulation grades systems into four bands, critical to low, forcing registration, ethics labels and audits on the riskiest, plus new inspection and data rules. Feedback closed, it becomes a binding Saudi AI governance framework.
Evidence of adoptionGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia29 Jan 2026
Saudi Arabia launches SAMAI 2 to train government workforce in AI
Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) — SDAIA and Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Education have unveiled SAMAI 2, extending AI training for government workforce staff into 11 ministries spanning healthcare, finance, justice and energy. The scheme follows SAMAI 1's 2025 reach of over 1.1 million trained citizens, now shifting toward sector-specific coursework for civil servants, aimed at lifting AI literacy among public-sector employees and productivity across government.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia13 Sep 2025
Saudi Arabia issues first AI copyright infringement fine
Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) — Saudi Arabia's AI copyright infringement case ended with a SR9,000 fine, the country's first such enforcement action. The Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property found that a person had altered a private photograph with artificial intelligence, then republished it commercially without the owner's consent — an AI-generated content copyright violation under national law.
DeploymentGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia6 Jun 2025
SDAIA deploys Sawaher AI surveillance system for Hajj 2025
Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) — Sawaher, an AI surveillance system for Hajj run jointly by the Saudi Data and AI Authority and Ministry of Interior, draws on 5,000-plus smart cameras across 80 holy-site and entry-point locations. Density figures and anomaly alerts flow to 18 agencies and 600-plus field staff, underpinning pilgrimage crowd monitoring across Saudi Arabia.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia14 Apr 2025
Saudi Arabia publishes draft Global AI Hub Law for consultation
Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) — Saudi Arabia's Communications, Space and Technology Commission has opened consultation on a draft Global AI Hub Law, an AI data hub regulation closing 14 May 2025. Three hub types, private, extended and virtual, join a data embassy scheme letting foreign entities hold data under home-country law inside Kingdom facilities. This AI infrastructure law targets global status in computing and digital sovereignty.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia12 Sep 2024
Artificial Intelligence Adoption Framework
Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) — SDAIA (Saudi Data & AI Authority) launched Saudi Arabia's AI Adoption Framework at the third Global AI Summit: a roadmap for embedding artificial intelligence government-wide, covering maturity assessment, AI offices, and best practices. This national AI adoption strategy also confirmed 23 government entities now have active AI offices.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia10 Jan 2024
Generative Artificial Intelligence Guidelines for Government
Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) — Saudi Arabia's Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) has issued a generative AI government policy for public sector bodies: the Generative Artificial Intelligence Guidelines for Optimal Adoption in Government Entities. The framework demands compliance with data classification standards, enforces privacy and security safeguards, bans use of restricted data, requires responsible deployment practices, and mandates that humans review every output before release. Each entity must also create a dedicated data management office or AI governance unit. The move sits within Saudi Arabia's broader drive toward AI regulation, though binding enforcement mechanisms remain unspecified.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia14 Sep 2023
Principles and Controls of AI Ethics
Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) — The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) adopted the AI Ethics Principles, a Saudi Arabia AI policy covering every developer and user of AI systems. Its seven principles are accountability; transparency and explainability; reliability and safety; humanity; fairness; social and environmental benefits; and privacy and security. This national AI regulation uses a four-tier risk classification, with optional, penalty-free registration.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia17 Jul 2020
National Strategy for Data and Artificial Intelligence
Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) — Saudi Arabia AI strategy plans, formally the National Strategy for Data and AI, set 2030 as the target year for ranking among the world's top data-driven economies. The Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) drew up the roadmap, later signed off by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, mapping out phases that move from addressing urgent domestic needs, to strengthening long-term competitiveness, to becoming a major global supplier and consumer of data and artificial intelligence.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorSaudi Arabia30 Aug 2019
Royal order establishing the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (Royal Court of Saudi Arabia) — A royal decree in Saudi Arabia set up SDAIA, the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority, as the kingdom's single national body for AI regulation and data policy under Royal Order No. (A/471). Reporting straight to the Prime Minister, SDAIA governs three arms: the National Data Management Office, the National Center for AI, and the National Information Center, forming the backbone of Saudi data and AI governance.
DeploymentHealthcare & Life SciencesSaudi Arabia14 Oct 2026
Saudi interior ministry opens a medical centre built on robotic surgery and AI
Ministry of Interior General Directorate of Medical Services (Saudi Arabia) — Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif opened the Prince Naif Center for Medical Excellence and Innovation, run by the General Directorate of Medical Services, adding robotics and AI in surgery. Kit includes a spine robot, a Da Vinci 5 and a HUMAIN-built lab for medical data analysis.
DeploymentHealthcare & Life SciencesSaudi Arabia24 Sep 2025
KFSHRC deploys 30 AI solutions and five new agents in 2025
King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre — Over 30 AI healthcare applications now run at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre (KFSHRC), plus five new AI agents added this year, spanning clinical documentation, medical translation, data analysis, chest X-ray and brain CT radiology tools, and live patient experience monitoring. Its Centre for Healthcare Intelligence has separately added over 20 AI tools for diagnostics, patient flow and predictive care, part of a broader AI in hospitals drive across Saudi Arabia.
DeploymentHealthcare & Life SciencesSaudi Arabia4 Jun 2025
Lunit AI chest X-ray deployed for Hajj 2025 mass screening
Saudi Government and Seha Virtual Hospital — Seha Virtual Hospital and the Saudi Government screened hundreds of thousands of pilgrims with Lunit INSIGHT CXR at the 2025 Hajj, applying AI chest X-ray screening to catch tuberculosis, pneumonia and MERS. Between 4 and 9 June, the software processed huge scan volumes so staff could triage faster and treat sooner. This computer-aided radiology diagnostics approach replaced manual review with bulk automated analysis.
DeploymentHealthcare & Life SciencesSaudi Arabia2025-04
Almoosa Health Group opens world's first AI doctor clinic in Al-Ahsa
Almoosa Health Group — A tablet-based AI physician named Dr Hua now greets patients at what its backers call the world's first AI doctor clinic, opened by Almoosa Health Group with Shanghai firm Synyi AI in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. It scans images and drafts treatment plans, though a clinician must still sign off before anything proceeds. Synyi AI puts its failure rate below 0.3%, a company claim not independently checked, and for now only respiratory cases fall under this AI-assisted diagnosis effort.
Aramco plans its refineries with hybrid AI models.
DeploymentManufacturing, Energy & ResourcesSaudi Arabia13 Oct 2026
Saudi Energy Ministry uses AI to predict supply disruptions
Ministry of Energy (Saudi Arabia) — Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy applies AI disruption forecasting to live data, says Alanoud Al-Shuraym, general manager of enterprise architecture. Petrol station feeds reach a central monitoring hub, analytics flag likely outages, and simulations trace knock-on effects through neighbouring regions and the energy value chain. Routine chores are automated alongside this predictive energy monitoring.
DeploymentManufacturing, Energy & ResourcesSaudi Arabia28 Apr 2026
Aramco deploys hybrid AI models in refinery planning with Emerson
Aramco — Aramco has plugged Emerson's AI-driven Aspen Hybrid Models into its refinery planning, which Emerson calls among the largest multi-site, multi-period optimisation models anywhere. In Continuous Catalyst Regeneration and Platformer units, this AI refinery planning supports feedstock blending and margin forecasting, with yield and quality predictions up to 98.5% accurate in key units, per Emerson. Aramco says the hybrid models cut engineers' manual adjustments, and hydrocracker units come next.
DeploymentManufacturing, Energy & ResourcesSaudi Arabia3 Feb 2026
Saudi Water Authority launches AI platform across the water value chain
Saudi Water Authority — The Saudi Water Authority and IBM have launched the H2O Platform, generative AI and hybrid cloud for AI water management across over 40 use cases in the Kingdom's water value chain. The water-resource AI offers live monitoring, trend spotting and predictive insight, per IBM, and a Consumer Assistant gives the public water services, consumption tracking and conservation tips.
DeploymentManufacturing, Energy & ResourcesSaudi Arabia29 Oct 2025
Aramco deploys autonomous AI agents at Fadhili gas plant
Aramco — Autonomous AI agents gas plant control now runs at Aramco's Fadhili Gas Plant, jointly engineered with Yokogawa Electric via a reinforcement learning algorithm overseeing acid gas removal. Amine and steam consumption dropped 10 to 15 percent, power draw shrank 5 percent, and staff seldom step in by hand anymore. Saudi Arabia's facility ranks among the earliest large-scale adopters of self-governing process control.
DeploymentFinance & InsuranceSaudi Arabia4 Dec 2025
Tawuniya launches AI medical underwriting system to cut claims leakage
The Company for Cooperative Insurance (Tawuniya) — The Company for Cooperative Insurance (Tawuniya), Saudi Arabia's largest insurer, has deployed an AI medical underwriting system to shrink claims leakage and tighten premium pricing accuracy. Anonymised patient histories, treatments and hospital bills feed the tool, flagging overcharges, duplicate claims and fraud. Lotte Data Communication (South Korea) and Synapxe (Singapore) co-developed the AI-based insurance underwriting technology, now live across employer health plans for over five million members, with hospitals already onboarded in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.
STC Bank deploys Mozn's FOCAL AI platform for fraud prevention
STC Bank — STC Bank has deployed FOCAL, Mozn's AI fraud prevention platform, using real-time intelligence and automated compliance checks against financial crime. This supports AI fraud detection in banking, protecting customers as Saudi Arabia's digital sector grows. Mozn, a regional enterprise AI leader, calls FOCAL its flagship AI-driven financial crime prevention tool.
DeploymentFinance & InsuranceSaudi Arabia16 May 2025
Amana Cooperative Insurance rolls out agentic AI for motor claims
Amana Cooperative Insurance — Riyadh-based Amana Cooperative Insurance has deployed agentic AI for motor claims, running the whole journey through a swarm of master-and-worker AI agents teamed with RPA bots, leaving core-system code entirely unchanged. Built by eData, the setup carries a case from first notice of loss all the way to settlement and fraud screening, while customers simply reach out over WhatsApp or email instead of calling in. The insurer points to quicker paperwork turnaround, reduced leakage via automated cost checks, and happier customers thanks to round-the-clock chat availability — an early example of AI-driven claims automation in the region.
First Mills rolls out AI agents across its four flour mills
First Mills — First Mills, a leading Saudi Arabian flour miller, has started running Kodamai's Kelvingrove AI agents in food production across its four facilities. The agent platform tracks procurement signals, supplier coordination and stock levels live, aiming for quicker decisions and clearer production visibility.
DeploymentAgriculture & FoodSaudi Arabia6 Nov 2025
Saudi environment ministry launches two AI platforms for agriculture
Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture — Under Saudi Arabia's Nama system, two AI agriculture platforms have gone live, backed by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture and already reaching over 1.6 million users. Slaughterhouses and broader protein supply chains sit under one tool's watch; crop demand projections for sustainable farming come from the other.
Evidence of adoptionEducation & TrainingSaudi Arabia24 Aug 2025
Saudi Arabia launches AI curriculum for six million school students
National Centre for Curriculum (Saudi Arabia) — Six million-plus Saudi Arabia pupils follow a new AI curriculum in schools, live since 2025-2026. Four bodies built it: the National Centre for Curriculum, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), packaging age-fit lessons into hands-on modules. It feeds Vision 2030's Human Capability Development Program, growing homegrown AI in education skills.
DeploymentEducation & TrainingSaudi Arabia11 Feb 2025
KFUPM becomes first Saudi university to launch ChatGPT Edu
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals — King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals becomes Saudi Arabia's pioneer in adopting ChatGPT Edu higher education tools, an OpenAI product for learning. Faculty, researchers and learners gain access to the AI platform for universities, aiding scholarship, coursework and cooperative projects. The step advances KFUPM's AI+X programme, obligating each learner to master core AI before picking a specialism.
Red Sea Global deploys SAP's AI copilot Joule for HR functions
Red Sea Global — Red Sea Global (RSG), a PIF-owned developer, is the Middle East and Africa North region's first firm running SAP's AI copilot Joule across human capital management, an early case of AI in human resources in real estate. Candidate screening, job description drafting and performance tracking now sit inside SAP SuccessFactors, covering roughly 10,500 staff. RSG will next extend the SuccessFactors AI assistant to ERP and procurement.
AZAQ deploys Elevatus AI recruitment platform across its businesses
Al Zaid Al Quraishi & Brothers Company (AZAQ) — AZAQ, a Saudi holding firm spanning cars, consumer goods, logistics and property, now runs Elevatus's AI recruitment platform group-wide, folding AI in recruitment into daily hiring. A new branded portal automatically screens, sources and onboards job seekers using Elevatus's AI-powered hiring software. The rollout backs Vision 2030's diversification push.
RegulationMedia, Telecom & EntertainmentSaudi Arabia3 Feb 2026
AI Principles in Media framework
Ministry of Media and Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) — Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Media and SDAIA launched the AI Principles in Media document at the fifth Saudi Media Forum on 3 February 2026, establishing formal guardrails for AI in media nationwide. Eight principles anchor the rules governing content creation, editing, publishing and distribution, spanning disclosure of AI-generated material, privacy safeguards, credibility, information integrity and a ban on misleading content. This marks artificial intelligence deployment in journalism now under structured national oversight.
RegulationMedia, Telecom & EntertainmentSaudi Arabia20 Feb 2024
AI Center for Media (AICOM)
Ministry of Media and Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) — Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Media and SDAIA opened the Artificial Intelligence Center for Media (AICOM), the Middle East's first such body, launched by the Minister of Media and the SDAIA President at the Saudi Media Forum. It tracks AI in media, forecasts coming applications of artificial intelligence in media for journalism, and backs the Kingdom's bid to lead the sector.
DeploymentBusiness OperationsSaudi Arabia18 Aug 2026
Saudi firm Azm puts five AI employees on its staff roster
Azm Saudi Arabia for Communications and Information Technology — Azm Saudi Arabia for Communications and Information Technology has five AI employees inside operations: an assistant to the chief executive, a business analysis employee, a talent recruitment employee, an IT services and facilities employee, and a quality and monitoring officer that tracks how each technical project is built and raises faults early. Each carries an identity, works over email and other internal channels, and meets the standards set for human staff. Azm puts the lift in operational efficiency above 30 percent, its own figure for agentic AI in enterprise operations.
RegulationLegal & Professional ServicesSaudi Arabia14 Mar 2026
Principles for the Use of Artificial Intelligence Systems
Board of Grievances of Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia's Board of Grievances has issued mandatory ethical guidelines and regulatory controls for AI use in judicial administration, covering development, deployment and operation of such systems across the body and its affiliated courts. All staff using these tools must comply, formalising AI governance in courts previously left to general guidance.
DeploymentMarketing & CreativeSaudi Arabia6 Mar 2025
Volvo launches Saudi Arabia's first AI-generated brand film
Volvo — Volvo's comeback push in Saudi Arabia leant on AI in automotive marketing, unveiling the Kingdom's first fully AI-generated brand film, 'Come Back Stronger'. LION and Electromin, Petromin's e-mobility arm, left vehicles out of frame, anchoring the piece around one person's story instead. Machine-made production squeezed a months-long schedule into weeks.
DeploymentRetail & ConsumerSaudi Arabia13 Jan 2025
Petromin launches PETROMINit generative AI agent for automotive customer service
Petromin Corporation — Close to half of Petromin Corporation's WhatsApp customers tried PETROMINit!, its AI customer service agent, in its launch month, mainly for quick vehicle servicing and loyalty points. Built on large language models with conversational AI platform Gupshup, the Saudi mobility firm's automotive customer service chatbot replies in Arabic and English and also covers urgent breakdown help.
Evidence of adoptionTechnology & SoftwareSaudi Arabia4 Nov 2025
81% of Saudi enterprises already using industry-specific AI finds SAP survey
SAP — SAP-commissioned research by YouGov finds 81 percent of enterprises in Saudi Arabia already use industry-specific AI, with results unveiled at SAP NOW AI Tour Riyadh. Looking ahead, 96 percent intend to fund data consolidation programmes. Some 52 percent of respondents judge sector-tailored AI's success by customer satisfaction gains.
Saudi Arabia launches self-driving taxi pilot in Riyadh
Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority — Saudi Arabia's Data and AI Authority is running a self-driving taxi pilot across seven Riyadh sites, among them King Khalid International Airport and Princess Nourah University, for 12 months. Built with the Ministry of Transport and private partners, the robotaxi scheme uses AI navigation and traffic sensors, plus an onboard safety officer.
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Method and sources
Every entry on this page is a named organisation putting AI to work in a real job, taken from the State of Applied AI record. Each one is traced to the report it came from and dated, and where a figure is the organisation’s own the entry says so rather than presenting it as an independent result. Readiness, ecosystem and policy figures, where shown, are attributed on the card to the body that published them.
The record is maintained continuously by the Industrial Research Unit of the Straits Institute for Applied AI: entries are added as they are found and verified, not on a schedule, and nothing is published without an open source behind it. It currently holds 4731 entries across 249 countries.