SDAIA spearheads Kingdom’s rise in global AI governance bodies
RIYADH — Saudi Arabia is leveraging a state-directed artificial intelligence strategy to emerge as a regional regulatory hub, blending multilateral diplomacy, UNESCO-backed institutions, and sovereign digital infrastructure.
At the helm is the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), created by royal decree in August 2019 and chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to implement the National Strategy for Data and AI (NSDAI).
In a landmark diplomatic step, SDAIA President Dr. Abdullah Alghamdi announced at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi in February 2026 that the Kingdom had joined the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), an OECD-hosted body with over 40 members. “The accession to the GPAI underscores the Kingdom’s leadership in fostering the responsible and reliable use of AI,” Alghamdi told delegates, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). The move made Saudi Arabia the first Arab nation in the partnership.
Institutionally, the Riyadh-based International Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Ethics (ICAIRE) was designated a UNESCO Category 2 Centre in September 2024, formalising a July 2023 cabinet decision. The announcement was made at the third Global AI Summit (GAIN Summit), which drew representatives from more than 100 countries, SPA reported.
Further cementing its role, SDAIA presented its regulatory model at the 29th UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development in Geneva in April 2026. Arab News quoted officials saying the Kingdom was “shaping international governance frameworks.”
The sovereignty push extends to physical infrastructure. The Hexagon data centre — described as the world’s largest government data facility at 480 megawatts — and the Shaheen III supercomputer anchor national compute capacity. A National Data Lake now integrates over 430 government systems.
Alghamdi told SPA that Saudi Arabia ranks third globally in contributions to the OECD AI Policy Observatory, with more than 60 policies submitted, and sits 14th in the 2025 Global AI Index by Tortoise Intelligence. Government spending on emerging technologies surged 56 percent in 2024, according to CXO Insight Middle East.
Source: SPA
