HUMAIN: Saudi Arabia’s bold bet on sovereign AI and Arabic LLMs

“Saudi Arabia is making massive investments in the AI space, both via public and private sector initiatives, as it looks to diversify its economy,” said Marc Einstein, research director at Counterpoint Research. “Focusing on Arabic language LLMs, which can be exported, is certainly a step in the right direction towards building a strong local ecosystem,” he added.

The emphasis on local LLMs and a sovereign AI infrastructure marks a bold shift in a sector dominated by Western and Chinese entities. “Beyond language, it’s about cultural context, regional control, and data sovereignty, setting a precedent for emerging markets to build locally grounded AI systems,” said Prabhat Mishra, Analyst at QKS Group.

According to Manish Ranjan, research director for Software & Cloud at IDC EMEA, this launch marks a key step in Saudi Arabia’s ambition to cultivate a robust sovereign AI ecosystem, building on the Middle East’s demonstrated leadership in AI and GenAI innovation, as seen in the UAE’s National AI Strategy (2017) and prominent regional LLMs like Falcon (TII) and Jais (G42 and MBZUAI).