MIAMI — Mohammed Alshaikh, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State and Public Funding Fund (PIF) board member, confused that optimism stays important regardless of international uncertainty, saying the area has confirmed its resilience by repeated crises.
Talking at FII PRIORITY Miami 2026, Alshaikh mentioned current challenges — together with the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing geopolitical tensions — have demonstrated the Kingdom’s capability to resist shocks and emerge stronger.
“We’ve got to be optimistic,” he mentioned. “The area has confirmed that it’s outfitted and ready to cope with critical challenges… and we are going to come out stronger.”
Alshaikh emphasised that long-term strategic pondering has been central to Saudi Arabia’s financial resilience, pointing to decades-old infrastructure investments such because the East-West pipeline, developed with out fast returns however now crucial to international vitality stability.
“We checked out it from a strategic viewpoint, not from a return on funding perspective,” he mentioned.
Turning to synthetic intelligence, Alshaikh warned towards permitting expertise to override human judgment, describing AI as “the mind” whereas people stay “the guts.”
“The problem is how can we deliver them collectively,” he mentioned. “AI is a software nevertheless it mustn’t take over decision-making.”
He mentioned Saudi Arabia is investing closely in each expertise and human capital, however made clear that individuals stay on the heart of the Kingdom’s technique.
“We’ll make investments extra within the folks,” he mentioned.
Alshaikh additionally referred to as for a extra cautious and considerate strategy to regulating AI, noting that present authorized frameworks could not totally deal with the complexities of rising applied sciences.
“When you decontrol, you allow interpretation to the courts,” he mentioned. “However do the identical guidelines apply to what we’re coping with at present? I don’t know.”
On international partnerships, Alshaikh highlighted the power and longevity of Saudi-U.S. relations, tracing their origins to 1933 and describing the connection as “strong” regardless of periodic variations.
“The inspiration is there,” he mentioned. “We’ve got disagreed prior to now and can disagree sooner or later, however that doesn’t affect the connection.”
