Key Highlights:
- Saudi Arabia’s SAMAI initiative has trained one million citizens in artificial intelligence.
- The program, led by SDAIA and partners, supports the country’s Vision 2030 knowledge-based economy goals.
- SAMAI promotes AI awareness, lifelong learning, and workforce readiness across all social sectors.
It is true that many of the AI companies are from Western countries, and mostly the United States. But that hasn’t stopped countries across the world from upskilling their workforce and youngsters with AI education. Speaking of that in the context of the Middle East, countries like UAE and Saudi Arabia have increased their focus on AI literacy and upskilling of their citizens through different initiatives.
Saudi Arabia’s “One Million Saudis in AI (SAMAI)” program is among such. Under that initiative, the country has now officially trained over 1,000,000 citizens. The news came yesterday via the Ministry of Education in Riyadh. The interesting part is that 52 percent of those one million trained are female, with males accounting 48 percent.
One Million Saudis in AI: What is it?
The “One Million Saudis in AI” (SAMAI) initiative was announced in September last year at the Global AI Summit (GAIN). The governing bodies behind this training program are the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development.
Now you must be wondering what’s so special about SAMAI, right? Well, according to the Ministry of Education, Riyadh, it is the largest-ever AI upskilling initiative in Saudi Arabia. In fact, it’s one of “the largest of its kind in the Kingdom.” Out of 1 million trained, around 70 percent were employees, while the remaining 30 percent were students.
What’s interesting is that the program’s reach extended beyond government and corporate sectors. Citizens of all ages and professions were encouraged to take part in this initiative, suggesting Saudi Arabia’s whole-of-society approach to technology adoption.
Speaking of AI adoption, Microsoft’s recent AI Diffusion Report revealed that the UAE topped with 59.4 percentOne-Million-Saudis-in-AI of the working population using AI tools in their daily lives. Microsoft, which is also backing the nation to achieve its AI goals, recently announced that it’ll invest $15.2 billion through 2029. Now, Saudi Arabia is trailing its neighbor when it comes to AI, but still has a lot to do to catch up. And the initiative we are talking about here is a part of it.
Major focus areas of the program
Although the initiative is developed by SDAIA, it operates under the National Strategy for Data and AI (NSDAI), which was launched back in 2020. One of the primary goals of the program is to develop human capital through large-scale talent development and AI education. And it revolves around three core objectives, i.e., raising public awareness about AI, supporting lifelong learning opportunities in AI, and keeping pace with the labor market for AI skills.
The Ministry of Education in Riyadh further suggests that all combined will help achieve Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 of building a knowledge-based economy powered by AI and other tech innovations. It’s important to note that training 1 million citizens is no small feat. And when you see that success building on SDAIA’s already impressive track record, you’ll understand the country is doing some amazing work. For example, ever since SDAIA was formed, it has trained nearly 800,000 citizens in data and AI, even before SAMAI’s launch.
Last year, it also organized the National Olympiad for Programming and AI (ATHKA), a competition where 260,000 students participated from over 10,000 schools. Prior to ATHKA, SDAIA had trained over 570,000 students on basic AI principles.
All that said, this milestone gives us an idea that with focus, planning, and inclusion, citizens can be made aware of the AI era. More than anything, the country’s approach to train everyone about the emerging tech shows what national transformation looks like.
