India, 14 September 2022: The Global AI Summit officially opened today, gathering private sector leaders, government officials, and renowned academic professionals from around the world for a series of discussions on the future of AI. The three-day Summit, hosted by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), is set to convene more than 200 speakers from 90 countries and 10,000 participants.
Setting the tone for the Summit in his opening remarks, H.E. Dr. Abdullah Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology in Saudi Arabia, discussed the Kingdom’s growing leadership and push for AI innovation.
“During the G20 in 2020, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia drove global consensus towards the OECD principles of trustworthy AI. How AI must be inclusive, human-centered, transparent, robust, and with accountability,” said H.E. Dr. Abdullah Alswaha. “We cannot afford for algorithms to be biased or sexist. We cannot afford to not have the right data sets and the right context.”
“Beyond the ethical application of AI, it is critical that we advance AI truly together as humankind, sharing our best practices, our expertise, our resources, and our challenges to ensure no one is left behind in unlocking the potential of AI,” added H.E. Dr. Abdullah Alghamdi, President of SDAIA. “I personally look forward to announcing several groundbreaking initiatives with our global partners to deliver on the promise of this Summit: AI for the Good of Humanity.”
A series of announcements will be made at the Summit, all aimed at advancing the use of data to solve some of world’s biggest challenges in areas such as healthcare, energy, and sustainability. Already, ministers signed today the Riyadh AI Call to Action Declaration, an agreement outlining the Digital Cooperation Organization’s (DCO) long-term vision to use AI technology to benefit people, communities, nations, and the world as a whole.
“DCO was created with the ethos of establishing an inclusive digital economy through collaboration across diverse entities at all levels. The RAICA declaration is this idea put into practice,” said Deemah Al Yahya, Secretary General of DCO. “By signing this declaration, all DCO member states are reaffirming their shared desire to usher in a brighter future for all by harnessing the huge potential of AI to improve the lives of people around the world.”
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also unveiled its AI Ethics Principles on the Summit’s opening day. Designed by SDAIA and based on global and domestic standards, the framework will serve as a practical guide for incorporating AI ethics throughout the AI system development life cycle.
The theme for the summit “AI For the Good of Humanity” stresses the importance of understanding where AI innovation and progress stands now, where the field is headed, and how society can ensure that progress does not lead to a violation of ethical use. The goal of the summit is to create a global platform that brings together policy leaders, business and investors, tech companies, and AI experts to discuss topics critical to the advancement of the responsible use of AI. The first day of sessions focused on the public sector’s use of AI around the world, from health care to education, and how AI aligns with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 initiatives.
Speakers at the Summit include Amin Nasser, CEO of Aramco, Sebastian Thrun, CEO of Kitty Hawk, and Dr. Jürgen Schmidhuber, Director of AI Initiative at KAUST. Saudi Ministers also participated in discussions on the first day of programming, including: H.E. Fajad Al-Jalajel, Minister of Health, H.E. Dr. Majid Bin Abdullah Al Kassabi, Minister of Commerce, and H.E. Bandar Ibrahim Alkhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources. Journalists from regional and international outlets also attended the Summit in person and through the livestreaming made available to remote attendees.
This landmark event and accompanying announcements are some of the many ways whereby the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is achieving the Data & AI National Strategy to elevate the Kingdom as a global leader in the elite league of data-driven economies, as part of Vision 2030 goals.