The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) participated in the UNESCO World Conference on Culture and Arts Education, showcasing Saudi Arabia's efforts in building capabilities in AI and data. SDAIA highlighted its initiatives to integrate AI and data science into education and culture. The participation aimed to share Saudi Arabia's experience and contribute to global discussions on the role of AI in education. Why it matters: This demonstrates Saudi Arabia's commitment to developing a skilled workforce in AI and promoting AI literacy through international engagement.
A national survey in Saudi Arabia of 330 participants reveals that 93% are actively using Generative AI, primarily for text-based tasks, while awareness and understanding remain uneven. Participants recognize benefits like productivity but caution against risks such as privacy, misinformation, and ethical misuse. The study highlights the need for AI literacy, culturally aligned solutions, and stronger frameworks for responsible deployment in Saudi Arabia.
This study assesses workforce preparedness for AI in the GCC region, using socio-technical systems theory to analyze national AI strategies and initiatives in KSA, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman. The research combines TF-IDF analysis, case studies of MBZUAI and SDAIA Academy, and scenario planning to evaluate the balance between technical capacity and social alignment. The study identifies a potential two-track talent system and emphasizes the importance of regulatory convergence for successful AI adoption.
This paper discusses the integration of AI into education, emphasizing a transdisciplinary approach that connects AI instruction to the broader curriculum and community needs. It delves into the AI program developed for Neom Community School in Saudi Arabia, where AI is taught as a subject and used to learn other subjects through the International Baccalaureate (IB) approach. The proposed method aims to make AI relevant throughout the curriculum by integrating it into Units of Inquiry.
The paper introduces SaudiCulture, a new benchmark for evaluating the cultural competence of LLMs within Saudi Arabia, covering five major geographical regions and diverse cultural domains. The benchmark includes questions of varying complexity and distinguishes between common and specialized regional knowledge. Evaluations of five LLMs (GPT-4, Llama 3.3, FANAR, Jais, and AceGPT) revealed performance declines on region-specific questions, highlighting the need for region-specific knowledge in LLM training.