Saudi Arabia has big AI ambitions. They could come at the cost of human rights

Mon, 19 May 2025 22:39:25 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/saudi-arabia-has-big-ai-ambitions-they-could-come-at-the-cost-of-human-rights-256793>

"This week, on his tour of the Middle East, United States President Donald
Trump unveiled a suite of new deals with Saudi Arabia.

Trump claimed the deals were worth more than US$1 trillion (A$1.5 trillion).
This is likely an overestimate. What’s less murky is that many of these deals
involve the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

This news came shortly after Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and de facto ruler,
Mohammed bin Salman, launched a new company known as Humain to develop and
manage AI. The company is part of Saudi Arabia’s state-run investment firm, and
is seeking to create powerful Arabic large language models. This would be
significant for the more than 450 million people who speak Arabic around the
world.

These developments are part of Saudi Arabia’s vision to become a global AI hub,
as it tries to diversify its economy away from oil.

But as AI grows in Saudi Arabia, it could have consequences – including for
human rights."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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