RIYADH: The third edition of the Global AI Summit, also known as GAIN, brought together business leaders, high-ranking officials, and top academics from more than 100 countries on its opening day on Tuesday.
After an opening ceremony featuring silver-clad dancers twirling neon lights, and a rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority’s President Abdullah bin Sharaf Al-Ghamdi delivered the opening speech.
“Let’s think about human-centered artificial intelligence … Despite the challenges, I remain optimistic. The solution is unity. We can navigate the AI-driven world through collaboration,” he said.
“Today, we celebrate ALLaM, a pioneering Arabic large language model proudly developed here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
The SDAIA’s president also highlighted the progress of the SauTech Arabic speech-to-text tool that was unveiled at the previous edition of the summit in 2022.
Since then, SauTech has been utilized by the Saudi Ministry of Justice to transcribe thousands of hours of virtual court hearings.
Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swaha chaired the first panel of the conference entitled “Empowering Society Through AI-Driven Technology.”
He highlighted partnerships between Aramco, Qualcomm, and Alat Technologies to develop new AI solutions in the Kingdom.
Other major announcements from the first day included the SDAIA’s partnership with UNESCO to launch the International Center for AI Research and Ethics.
The ICAIRE intends to boost awareness of ethics in AI, support research and development, and provide recommendations on AI policies.
Aramco announced the deployment of an AI supercomputer designed to accelerate complex tasks like analyzing drilling plans and geological data in order to recommend the most efficient oil well placement options.
The oil company also signed further memorandums of understanding with Cerebras Systems, SambaNova Systems, and FuriosaAI to explore collaboration in supercomputing, neural processing, and innovation in Saudi Arabia.
The SDAIA also announced a new smart gate system at NEOM Bay Airport, in partnership with the Ministry of Interior and the General Directorate of Passports.
The system aims to use AI technology to improve the efficiency of immigration services at the airport.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Tourism signed an agreement with the SDAIA to establish a center of excellence for AI in tourism, and to promote the development of AI technologies in the sector.
Another memorandum of understanding was signed with Qassim University to train national cadres in data and AI.
The General Presidency of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice signed an agreement with the SDAIA to collaborate over IT and data management.
This year’s edition of GAIN runs until Sept. 12 at the King Abdulaziz Convention Center.
The three-day summit is expected to host more than 400 speakers in 150 sessions, with more than 20,000 people set to attend in person and an estimated 25 million participating online.
