In a session entitled “Artificial Intelligence for Digital Twins,” the CEO of NEOM, Engineer Nazmi al-Nasr said artificial intelligence will lead the future in modern designs and technologies at the $500 billion mega-city, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Friday.

He added that THE LINE project - which, when completed, will accommodate up to nine million residents in communities characterized by their revolutionary vertical design - will be the future of the world and will depend on the full use of artificial intelligence.

More than 200 speakers came together for the three-day global summit at the King Abdul Aziz International Conference Center under the patronage of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It concluded Thursday.

Organized by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) the second edition of the Global AI Summit was held under the theme “AI for the Good of Humanity,” and was attended by about 10,000 people representing policymakers, experts and specialists in artificial intelligence from 90 countries.

The event was held from 13 to 15 September 2022.

Many participants in the Summit described the city of Riyadh as the “city of artificial intelligence,” according to a SPA report. Hosting the summit comes within the framework of the directives of the Crown Prince to make Riyadh one of the ten largest economic cities in the world.

Agreements and partnerships

Over three days, the summit formed an international platform that brought together experts, specialists, academics, CEOs of major technology companies in the world, thought leaders, innovators and decision-makers in government and private sectors from around the world, including leading companies, investors and businessmen to discuss the future of artificial intelligence in various fields.

Organized by SDAIA under the theme “AI for the Good of Humanity, the summit was attended by about 10,000 people representing policy makers, experts and specialists in artificial intelligence from 90 countries.

During the summit, several agreements and partnerships were signed between major international companies and government agencies in the Kingdom, including the signing of an agreement between the Saudi Artificial Intelligence Company owned by the Public Investment Fund with SenseTime, the world’s leading artificial intelligence company.

The agreement will see the establishment of a new company in the Kingdom with an estimated investment value of more than $200 million to finance an advanced artificial intelligence laboratory, and to create jobs for young Saudis - helping put the country on the map for artificial intelligence technology.

The Ministry of Energy and SDAIA, through their joint center (Joint Artificial Intelligence Center for Energy), also signed a strategic agreement with IBM to accelerate the adoption of the circular carbon economy using artificial intelligence.

SDAIA also signed an agreement with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to develop a global framework to measure AI readiness and help countries in the world share and adopt AI best practices, regulatory frameworks and institutional reforms necessary for countries to harness all AI capabilities for the service of humanity.

In a session entitled ‘Visualizing the ecosystem for the adoption of artificial intelligence,’ the Ministry of Health and SDAIA launched the prototype of the early detection program for breast cancer using artificial intelligence algorithms.

Furthermore, the first center specialized in sustainability solutions and their applications using artificial intelligence techniques in the environment, water and agriculture was launched under the name ‘AIEWA’ (Artificial Intelligence Center in Environment, Water and Agriculture).

SDAIA also, with Google Cloud and Climate Engine, launched the Earth Observation and Science Program, which relies on technology Earth observation and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide sustainability solutions that address climate change risks and enhance environmental protection in the Kingdom and the region, such as: reducing carbon emissions by more than 278 million tons annually by 2030, and planting 10 billion trees across the Kingdom by 2030.

Before the conclusion of the summit, SDAIA and Google Cloud also announced the launch of the ‘Elevate’ program; a new collaboration aimed at enabling women in the world to practice new jobs in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning in emerging markets by training more than 25,000 women over the next five years.