Saudi Arabia Launches State-Backed AI Initiative, Highlighting Local Solutions in Low-Income Countries

Saudi Arabia recently announced its entry into a large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) initiative, coinciding with U.S. President Donald Trump's tour of Gulf states. The new venture, backed by the Saudi state, includes significant involvement from major U.S. tech companies. Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman will chair HUMAIN, a new AI company headquartered in Riyadh. NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are among the key players contributing to this effort. NVIDIA will supply several hundred thousand of its most advanced graphics processing units over five years, Qualcomm will build an AI data institute and a center for semiconductor design, and AWS plans to provide AI infrastructure, training 100,000 people in AI and data science. While Saudi Arabia's approach involves substantial investment and partnerships with Western firms, the path to home-grown AI in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) can be different. Many initiatives in LMICs focus on "scaling right" rather than simply scaling up. These efforts aim to develop AI models that cater to local users, their languages, and socio-economic contexts. For instance, popular AI applications like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google Gemini, trained primarily on European languages, are less effective for speakers of Hindi, Arabic, Swahili, and Xhosa. To address this, countries in the Global South are boosting home-grown solutions by funding startups, creating AI education programs, building research and regulatory capacity, and engaging the public. India serves as a prime example of this approach. The Department for Science and Technology (DST) has funded an AI initiative called BharatGen at various Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), spearheaded by IIT Bombay. BharatGen focuses on developing language models trained on local data, enabling human-like conversations in multiple Indian languages, including Hindi and English. This project, among others, emerged from government requests for AI research proposals, showcasing the impact of strategic funding. In Africa, South Africa is consulting on a national AI strategy that emphasizes the establishment of dedicated research centers, funding for scientists and startups, and improving public understanding of AI. Increased awareness is essential to help people recognize the benefits and limitations of AI technologies. Jake Okechukwu Effoduh, a researcher at Toronto Metropolitan University, highlighted the importance of context-specific AI during his work with Kenyan dairy farmers. Farmers initially welcomed an image recognition app for disease detection but lost trust when it incorrectly diagnosed healthy cattle as undernourished due to its training on European breeds like Angus and Hereford. Effoduh's experience underscores the need for transparency and adaptability in AI development. Without clear explanations of how models function and why they sometimes fail, local users may abandon these technologies, undermining their potential impact. Public engagement and education are crucial components of successful AI initiatives in LMICs, ensuring that the technology is both accessible and reliable for diverse populations. Despite these efforts, many LMICs lag in AI research and strategy development. Only a fraction of African Union and League of Arab States member states have produced an AI strategy. According to a 2024 analysis, countries in Africa, South America, and Asia—excluding major players like China and Japan—collectively produce less than 5% of the world's AI research. Saudi Arabia's push into AI will help balance this disparity, as will the modest but targeted investments in research and innovation seen in other parts of the Global South. Effoduh and other industry insiders stress that context-specific, user-friendly AI is key to sustainable growth in LMICs. By focusing on local needs and leveraging relatively modest resources, these countries can create AI solutions that truly benefit their communities. Moreover, building AI literacy among the general population is vital for fostering greater acceptance and effective use of these technologies. The success of initiatives like HUMAIN and BharatGen highlights the potential for LMICs to play a significant role in the global AI landscape, provided they continue to invest strategically and engage their citizens. Evaluation by Industry Insiders and Company Profiles Jake Okechukwu Effoduh, a leading researcher in AI adoption in Africa, emphasizes the importance of contextual relevance and transparency in AI models. His work with dairy farmers in Kenya shows that trust in AI technologies can erode quickly without these elements. The involvement of major U.S. tech companies in Saudi Arabia's AI initiative underscores the growing interest in developing AI capabilities in emerging markets. HUMAIN, chaired by Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, and initiatives like BharatGen at IIT Bombay demonstrate that modest, targeted investments can yield substantial results. As LMICs increasingly focus on localized AI solutions, they are poised to contribute meaningfully to global AI research and application, enhancing the technology's effectiveness and reach.