Saudi Arabia has big AI ambitions. They could come at the cost of human rights
- Written by The Conversation
This week, on his tour of the Middle East, United States President Donald Trump unveiled a suite of new deals with Saudi Arabia.
Trump claimed the deals were worth more than US$1 trillion (A$1.5 trillion). This is likely an overestimate. What’s less murky is that many of these deals involve the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
This news came shortly after Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, launched a new company known as Humain to develop and manage AI. The company is part of Saudi Arabia’s state-run investment firm, and is seeking to create powerful Arabic large language models. This would be significant for the more than 450 million people who speak Arabic around the world.
These developments are part of Saudi Arabia’s vision to become a global AI hub, as it tries to diversify its economy away from oil.
But as AI grows in Saudi Arabia, it could have consequences – including for human rights.
An absolute monarchy
Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy in which the unelected king holds total authority in the way the country is run. According to nonprofit organisation Freedom House, the country “restricts almost all political rights and civil liberties”.
The country has been criticised by Human Rights Watch for human rights issues, including suppressing free speech and targeting government critics.
In one extreme example, in October 2018, one of the government’s most vocal critics, Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. A 2021 US intelligence report concluded Mohammed bin Salman approved the assassination.
Discrimination against women is another major human rights concern. These issues have led to serious concerns about overall freedoms in the country.
Becoming a global AI hub
Saudi Arabia is expanding its efforts to extend economic opportunities while positioning the country at the forefront of global AI innovation. According to the Global AI Index, the country’s public AI spending commitments significantly outrank those of the US and China, totalling more than $40 billion over the next decade.
The newly-launched AI company, Humain, is at the centre of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to become a global AI hub.
This week the company announced a partnership with NVIDIA, which develops special computer chips known as graphic processing units – or GPUs – for AI. NVIDIA will support the creation of AI data centres in Saudi Arabia by exporting “several hundred thousand” of its most advanced GPUs over the next five years.
Humain will also deploy an AI platform developed by NVIDIA to enable industries to create digital twins. These are virtual replicas of physical environments that aim to enhance efficiency and sustainability.
Alongside its partnership with NVIDIA, Humain also announced a new US$5 billion partnership with Amazon Web Services. This will help build a suite of AI infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.
More broadly, Saudi Arabia is embedding AI into urban development. The technology is at the heart of its megacity development known as The Line. AI is also being deployed to streamline traffic systems and enhance energy efficiency.
This is something the general public in Saudi Arabia support. For example, a 2022 survey by Ipsos found 76% of adults in Saudi Arabia believed that products and services using AI have more benefits than drawbacks. This compared to a global country average of 52%.
A digital authoritarian tool
Saudi Arabia already uses AI and other digital technologies to monitor citizens and control dissent.
For example, the country reportedly used spyware on devices belonging to Jamal Khashoggi’s relatives in the lead up to his murder.
The Line will also incorporate digital tracking systems of citizens. This has led some critics to describe it as a “surveillance city”.
With the country’s track record in mind, the huge expansion of Saudi Arabia’s AI capabilities creates further opportunities for the regime to use the technology in ways that could be of concern.
In a 2024 paper political scientist Nayera Mohamed Hamed Ibrahim described AI in Saudi Arabia as being a “digital authoritarian tool” which further entrenched the absolute power of the monarchy and its control over civilian life.
The technology risks becoming an even more powerful digital authoritarian tool in Saudi Arabia as the country continues its march to becoming one of the world’s biggest developers of AI.
