How Saudi Arabia is becoming a leader in responsible AI

Artificial intelligence is reshaping the world faster than many imagined. In boardrooms from New York to Shenzhen, companies are racing to grasp its impact — even as most governments are still in the early stages of debating how to regulate it. 

Saudi Arabia is taking a different path. By embedding AI into Vision 2030, its bold plan to improve economic, social, and cultural diversity, the Kingdom is investing in the new technology at scale while also putting governance and ethics at the center. 

The approach offers a blueprint for other governments to follow as they ramp up AI, showing how, with proper care, AI adoption and responsibility can advance together.

Policy and people 

Saudi Arabia’s centralized model runs through the Saudi Data and AI Authority, which has issued national AI principles, ethics guidelines, and practical tools to guide adoption. The Personal Data Protection Law reinforces this framework, giving companies a clear privacy baseline. The result: much more clarity than before. 

Business leaders are already responding. The latest Oliver Wyman Forum research shows that 27 percent of respondents in the Kingdom reported a clear ambition on AI strategy, compared with the global average of 21 percent. Seventy-seven percent said their companies communicate effectively about AI, compared with 63 percent globally. 

Access to internal tools is improving, too: 43 percent in Saudi said AI tools are available to them, versus 31 percent globally. Only 8 percent said their company lacks AI policies, compared with nearly a third of workers worldwide. 

With that organizational scaffolding in place, individual behavior is shifting as well. Around 70 percent of Saudi employees said they have received AI-related training, far above the 50 percent global average. 

A similar 70 percent said they are willing to accept lower salaries in return for AI upskilling, compared with 41 percent globally. These are extraordinary numbers — they signal not just adoption but a hunger to adapt.

Regulators are keeping pace. Through the Digital Regulatory Academy, officials are being trained in data, digital law, and algorithmic oversight. Few countries invest in their regulators at this level — a step that helps ensure innovation does not outstrip accountability.

Investment and impact

Incentives drawing global players to Riyadh amplify the ambition. Special economic zones offer a 5 percent corporate tax rate for 20 years. The regional headquarters program provides a 30-year tax relief package for multinationals that base their regional operations in the Kingdom. Such measures aim not just to attract capital but also to anchor supply chains and transfer skills to Saudi professionals. 

Local context plays a role as well. The Kingdom is investing in sovereign AI capability, including Humain, a national champion supported by the Public Investment Fund, to build systems aligned with the Arabic language and regional priorities. Unlike models imported wholesale, this is an AI strategy grounded in local culture.

Early indications 

So far, the results of these efforts have been encouraging. In energy, Aramco’s AI-driven predictive maintenance has cut power consumption by about 18 percent and reduced maintenance costs by 30 percent. In urban design, NEOM reports AI-enabled planning that trims travel times by 22 percent. During the Hajj, AI crowd-management systems have helped reduce stampede risks by 70 percent. These are not pilots — they are real deployments with measurable benefits. 

To be sure, the progress comes with tensions. Saudi employees are more prepared than many of their global peers, but also more worried. Forty-two percent said they feel ready for AI but not fully, while 71 percent said they worry about job security, far higher than the 56 percent global average. Twenty-four percent said AI has worsened their work-life balance, compared with just 6 percent globally. Adoption without enablement is fragile; these figures underline why training, guidance, and safeguards must move in lockstep with technology.

The roadmap from here is clear. First, nations should expand responsible AI frameworks with sector playbooks and transparent adoption audits. Second, they should keep scaling regulator expertise so innovation and oversight evolve together. Third, they should invest in Arabic-first models and compute, ensuring trust in systems that reflect the language and culture people actually use. 

Finally, they should keep human outcomes at the center. AI could add SR100 billion ($26.7 billion) to the economy by 2030, according to a joint study between Oliver Wyman and SDAIA. But the true measure of success will be better jobs, better services, and stronger trust.

The global conversation about AI often swings between hype and fear. Saudi Arabia is showing a different path — ambitious yet measured, fast and responsible. For governments and companies still asking how to balance innovation with trust, Riyadh has already drafted the first playbook.

• Jad Haddad is global head of Quotient – AI by Oliver Wyman.