Saudi Arabia's New 'AI Zone' Set To Create Tech Jobs, New Investments
Saudi Arabia has launched an AI focused zone in what could be one of the biggest job creating initiatives within the Kingdom's tech sector.
The newly created Saudi AI company, Humain, is partnering Amazon Web Services to invest a whopping $5 billion and more on the 'AI Zone'.
In tandem with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Amazon entity will train 100,000 citizens in cloud computing and GenAI. This will focus on two new AWS GenAI certifications – AWS AI Practitioner and AWS Machine Learning Engineer Associate Certifications.
The training will be from Amazon Academy, which launched in 2023 and is the 'largest talent development program of its kind in the Middle East'.
The announcement comes as US President is in Saudi Arabia as part of a wider visit to the Gulf.
As for the AI Zone, this is in line with Saudi Arabia's target of becoming an 'AI-powered economy'.
As part of the deal with Amazon Web Services, Saudi businesses and government organizations can 'access high-performing models from leading AI companies to develop GenAI applications with security, privacy, and responsible AI'.
The Amazon Q coding assistant will also enable organizations to build GenAI-powered assistants to 'answer questions, provide summaries, generate content, and complete tasks based on enterprise data'.
According to a tech consultant, 'To date, Saudi Arabia has created significant job opportunities in many sectors – but tech seems to have lagged. The AI Zone should change that along with the tech startup scene.'
According to tech industry sources, the AI Zone fits right into everything that Saudi Arabia has launched or is planning around technology. Gunning to be a full AI economy is part of the bigger gameplan.
This also sets up a generational opportunity for Saudi nationals and talent from outside to explore jobs in tech.
'The Saudi tech sector is accelerating job creation through focused government investments and initiatives that enhance digital R&D and innovation,' said Dr. Raymond Khoury, Partner and Head – Technology & Innovation Management Practice, Middle East at Arthur D. Little.
Amazon Web Services and Humain will also be working to 'advance' an AI-powered startup sector, by 'providing access to the broadest and deepest set of cloud technology tools and programs'. (According to Magnitt data, Saudi startups took in $750 million as venture capital funding in 2024. This is the 'highest share of capital deployed across the Middle East and North Africa last year').
'This collaboration to build an AI Zone in Saudi Arabia will enable innovations across all industries using AWS's advanced AI offerings,' said Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services.
'Together, we will empower customers with cost-effective and secure cloud technologies, fuel innovation and economic growth across the nation.'
What Humain plans to do?
As the entity overseeing the Saudi AI project, Humain plans to develop AI solutions using AWS technologies for its end customers.
It will work with AWS on the development of a unified AI agent marketplace, which will go into 'simplifying the discovery, deployment, and management of AI software for the Saudi Arabia government'.
The collaboration also will 'spur the growth' of Large Language Models (LLMs), including Arabic Large Language Models (ALLaM).
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