The 2022 Global AI Summit Begins With Launch Of Several New International Initiatives

The Global AI Summit officially opened on Tuesday, gathering private sector leaders, government officials, and renowned academic professionals from around the world for a series of discussions on the future of AI. The three-day Summit, hosted by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), is set to convene more than 200 speakers from 90 countries and 10,000 participants.

“During the G20 in 2020, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia drove global consensus towards the OECD principles of trustworthy AI. How AI must be inclusive, human-centered, transparent, robust, and with accountability,” said H.E. Dr. Abdullah Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology in Saudi Arabia. “We cannot afford for algorithms to be biased or sexist. We cannot afford to not have the right data sets and the right context.”

“Beyond the ethical application of AI, it is critical that we advance AI truly together as humankind, sharing our best practices, our expertise, our resources, and our challenges to ensure no one is left behind in unlocking the potential of AI,” added H.E. Dr. Abdullah Alghamdi, President of SDAIA.

A series of announcements will be made at the Summit, all aimed at advancing the use of data to solve some of world’s biggest challenges in areas such as healthcare, energy, and sustainability. On the opening day, ministers signed the Riyadh AI Call to Action Declaration, an agreement outlining the Digital Cooperation Organization’s (DCO) long-term vision to use AI technology to benefit people, communities, nations, and the world as a whole.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also unveiled its AI Ethics Principles on the Summit’s opening day. Designed by SDAIA and based on global and domestic standards, the framework will serve as a practical guide for incorporating AI ethics throughout the AI system development life cycle.

Speakers at the Summit include Amin Nasser, CEO of Aramco, Sebastian Thrun, CEO of Kitty Hawk, and Dr. Jürgen Schmidhuber, Director of AI Initiative at KAUST. Saudi Ministers also participated in discussions on the first day of programming, including: H.E. Fajad Al-Jalajel, Minister of Health, H.E. Dr. Majid Bin Abdullah Al Kassabi, Minister of Commerce, and H.E. Bandar Ibrahim Alkhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources. Journalists from regional and international outlets also attended the Summit in person and through the livestreaming made available to remote attendees.