Technology AI, Science and New Things
A Global AI Summit in Riyadh last week could signal an important shift by Saudi Arabia’s towards the United States as an AI partner, and away from China. Semafor reports that the US government is considering allowing Nvidia to export advanced chips to Saudi, lifting restrictions imposed earlier this year out of national security concerns that they could be accessed by China, which remains Saudi Arabia’s top trading partner overall. Since then, Riyadh has cut back its involvement with Chinese firms while keeping the door open to Chinese expertise, including through recent investments in Chinese generative AI startups. The Kingdom is in a global and regional race to develop large scale AI models. The 2024 edition of the Tortoise Global AI Index launching this Thursday shows that Saudi Arabia ranks first in terms of ‘government strategy’ as the world’s largest investor in AI, with record AI public spending commitments. But its success as a leading AI hub still depends on access to advanced infrastructure and know-how – and therefore on other, bigger AI players.
