RIYADH — Saudi Arabia has designated 2026 because the Yr of Synthetic Intelligence, underscoring the Kingdom’s accelerating push to place itself as a world hub for superior applied sciences.
The choice was authorized by the Saudi Council of Ministers below the patronage of Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, who additionally serves as chairman of the Saudi Knowledge and Synthetic Intelligence Authority.
The designation displays Saudi Arabia’s rising momentum within the AI sector, the place corporations working within the Kingdom have secured about $9.1 billion in funding as a part of the nation’s broader Saudi Imaginative and prescient 2030 technique.
Established in 2019, SDAIA has led the Kingdom’s Nationwide Technique for Knowledge and Synthetic Intelligence, constructed round six pillars: ambition, competencies, insurance policies, funding, innovation and ecosystem growth.
These efforts have helped Saudi Arabia rank 14th globally within the 2025 World AI Index whereas sustaining a number one place within the Arab world in AI mannequin growth.
The Kingdom additionally grew to become the primary Arab nation to affix the World Partnership on Synthetic Intelligence and hosts the Worldwide Middle for Synthetic Intelligence Analysis and Ethics in Riyadh, a middle supported by UNESCO.
Authorities funding in rising applied sciences has additionally accelerated, with spending rising by greater than 56 p.c in 2024.
Main infrastructure tasks supporting the sector embrace the launch of the Shaheen III supercomputer and the Hexagon Knowledge Middle, the world’s largest authorities knowledge middle with a capability of 480 megawatts. The Kingdom has additionally established a Nationwide Knowledge Lake integrating greater than 430 authorities methods.
Human capital growth stays a central pillar of the technique, with greater than 11,000 specialists skilled in AI-related fields and the SAMAI initiative reaching a couple of million individuals.
In the meantime, SDAIA launched the official visible id for the Yr of Synthetic Intelligence 2026.
The brand combines the palm tree — a nationwide image representing the Kingdom’s heritage, generosity and stability — with the letters “AI,” symbolizing the technological dimension driving Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation.
Inexperienced was chosen to replicate the colour of the Saudi flag and nationwide id, whereas blue represents digital applied sciences and superior innovation.
The Arabic typography used within the design is impressed by digital circuit patterns, linking Arabic tradition with the evolving digital panorama.
SDAIA stated the emblem will function a unified visible id for initiatives, packages and occasions organized by authorities, non-public and non-profit sectors all through 2026 to focus on the Kingdom’s built-in nationwide efforts in synthetic intelligence.
