HE Omar bin Sultan Al Olama Highlights the Importance of Artificial Intelligence

His Excellency Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, participated in a seminar entitled "The Artificial Intelligence Revolution”. The seminar was among several events organized by the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development as part of the UAE’s pavilion at the Riyadh International Book Fair.

During the seminar, HE Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama expressed his deep gratitude to the organisers of the Riyadh International Book Fair for choosing the UAE as the exhibition’s guest of honor. He stated that this choice highlights the strong relationship between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, adding that it should serve as a model for bilateral relations on both a regional and international level.

Over the course of the session, HE highlighted the importance of artificial intelligence and its applications as the key to building a sustainable future that will benefit communities and support economic and social development efforts. He stressed that the need to adopt artificial intelligence across the region’s countries is absolutely critical to ensure that they are on par with the achievements of their counterparts in the west.

HE also touched on examples of the various applications of artificial intelligence in our daily lives, in addition to a number of projects being developed by the world leaders in the field such as self-driving cars, rocket landing programs, mobile phone assistants, cashier-free supermarkets and advanced robots. He stressed that among others, such applications will completely revolutionise human life as we know it, and therefore governments should adapt quickly to these developments to ensure continued happiness and prosperity for their people.  

During the seminar, HE addressed the UAE’s strategy to adopting artificial intelligence which aims to increase efficiencies within the government, foster creative environments and encourage higher productivity in various sectors. Building on HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai’s efforts to embrace this new wave, he quoted HH, saying:  “Artificial Intelligence is the new wave after the Smart Government upon which all our services, sectors and future infrastructure will rely on."

The seminar also tackled the importance of investing in artificial intelligence and its applications. HE Omar bin Sultan Al Olama estimated that the expected revenues investments in artificial intelligence could account to up to 15 trillion dollars and contribute up to 1.18 trillion SAR to the GCC region’s economic region within the next 12 years.

The seminar discussed the expected impact of artificial intelligence and the fourth industrial revolution on the job market, with artificial intelligence predicted to offer 10 million new opportunities. Convesely, it underlined that due to automation, artificial intelligence is also expected to eliminate 74% of the current jobs available today.

HE Omar bin Sultan Al Olama stressed that decision makers must be educated on the facts and figures to ensure the correct placement of educational and training strategies needed to meet the region’s future needs. With the Arab countries’ youth population standing at 108 million, HE highlighted the importance of training the younger generation to be the foundation for progress in the field of artificial intelligence.

Since the launch of the Riyadh International Book Fair, the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development has organized a series of cultural symposia attended by a number of high-ranging dignitaries and officials from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, as well as book signing ceremonies and other activities in cooperation with partners from both countries.