Saudi trains 1M citizens in AI; Ooredoo opens Kuwait AI data centre
Middle East AI News weekly digest...
Good morning!
Welcome to this week’s Middle East AI News email digest, brought to you by big data analytics and AI company Presight!
Too much news to fit in one newsletter this week! SDAIA announced on Sunday that the new SAMAI public education initiative has trained one million Saudi nationals so far this year! Meanwhile, Ooredoo opened Kuwait’s first AI data centre, HUMAIN and DataVolt sign a multi-gigawatt data centre deal, and trust in AI decisions is high among UAE data leaders, but explainability has not been prioritised, according to new research from Dataiku.
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Education
Saudi’s SAMAI trains over one million citizens
#Saudi #skills– Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) reports more than one million citizens have completed AI training through the SAMAI initiative, with women making up 52%. Launched in 2024, the programme strengthens workforce readiness aligned with Vision 2030 goals. (Middle East AI News)
SenseTime MEA, KSU launch AI Innovation Centre
#Saudi #research – SenseTime MEA and King Saud University are establishing an AI Innovation Centre to drive research, education and sector applications across health, energy, logistics, smart cities and space. The facility includes a dedicated GPU cluster for advanced experimentation. (Middle East AI News)
Jordan rolls out Ajyal digital education platform
#Jordan #edtech – Jordan has launched Ajyal, a national digital education management system connecting over 2,000 schools. Developed by the ministries of Education and Digital Economy, the platform supports personalised learning, data-driven insights and AI integration. (Petra News)
Qatar to host second Winter School in AI
#Qatar #training – The University of Doha for Science and Technology and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology will host the second Winter School in AI and Software Engineering, promoting advanced AI skills and research in line with Qatar National Vision 2030. (QNA)
Data Centres
Ooredoo Kuwait opens sovereign AI data centre
#Kuwait #datacentres – Ooredoo Kuwait has launched the country’s first sovereign AI data centre, developed with NVIDIA and powered by H200 GPUs. The facility delivers secure, high-performance computing for national AI development, strengthening digital sovereignty. (Middle East AI News)
Humain and DataVolt plan multi-GW AI data centres
#Saudi #datacentres – HUMAIN and DataVolt will build a multi-gigawatt data-centre pipeline to support high-intensity AI workloads. The partnership combines HUMAIN’s AI ecosystem role with DataVolt’s sustainable infrastructure capabilities, advancing Saudi Arabia’s ambition to become a global intelligent-computing hub. (Middle East AI News)
NTT Data considers new Saudi data-centre buildout
#Saudi #datacentres – Japan’s NTT Data Group is evaluating plans to build new data centres in Saudi Arabia to meet soaring AI-infrastructure demand. Already supporting major national projects including NEOM, the firm views the kingdom as a key regional growth market. (Bloomberg)
Startups
Rased raises pre-seed round to expand fraud-AI platform
#Saudi #funding – Riyadh startup Rasēd has secured pre-seed funding led by Wa’ed Ventures and SHARE Investment to scale its AI fraud-detection platform. Using behavioural analytics, the system has already prevented over $100m in fraud, with plans for regional expansion. (Middle East AI News)
Builtop raises $11 million for AI construction procurement
#Saudi #funding – Riyadh-based Builtop has secured $11 million in Seed and debt financing led by TAM Capital to scale its AI procurement platform for construction and real estate. Founded in 2024, the startup offers AI planning tools and pay-later trade credit. (Middle East AI News)
Presight forms global advisory board for $100m AI fund
#UAE #funding – Presight has created an advisory board for the $100 million Presight–Shorooq Fund I and its AI Startup Accelerator. Chaired by H.E. Mansoor Al Mansoori, the board includes Thiel Capital’s Jack Selby and K3 Ventures’ Meng Xiong Kuok to strengthen global deal flow and partnerships. (Middle East AI News)
Market Research
UAE data leaders struggle to trace AI decisions
#UAE #aigovernance– Dataiku’s Global AI Confessions Report shows 94% of UAE data executives lack full visibility into AI decision-making, despite 72% trusting autonomous agents. Only 17% require explainability, highlighting governance challenges as enterprise AI adoption accelerates. (Middle East AI News)
DIFC AI adoption reaches 52% among firms
#UAE #finance– AI adoption across DIFC firms has risen to 52%, up from 33% last year, according to the DFSA survey. Generative-AI use tripled, while machine-learning and deep-learning adoption rose over 60%. However, governance gaps persist, with 20% lacking clear accountability. (Middle East AI News)
Cisco: 92% of UAE organisations plan AI agents
#UAE #agents – Cisco’s AI Readiness Index 2025 reports that 92% of UAE organisations plan to deploy AI agents, with 41% expecting them to work alongside staff within a year. Rising ROI pressure is driving investment, as 74% now prioritise AI in IT budgets and 51% plan new data-centre capacity. (CXO DX)
Policy
UAE unveils AI Readiness Index for federal entities
#UAE #adoption – The UAE has launched an Artificial Intelligence Readiness Index to measure federal bodies’ preparedness for AI adoption. Announced at the Government Annual Meetings, it follows the government achieving a 97% utilisation rate of AI tools, underscoring rapid nationwide progress. (Middle East AI News)
Oman targets 10% of GDP from digital economy by 2040
#Oman #digitaleconomy – Oman’s National Digital Economy Programme aims to grow the digital sector to 10% of GDP by 2040. The second phase accelerates digital-government transformation and AI adoption across industries. (Times of Oman)
Bahrain proposes penalties for AI deepfake misuse
#Bahrain #regulation – Bahrain’s Shura Council has proposed a bill introducing jail terms and fines up to BD10,000 ($27k) for creating or sharing AI-generated deepfake videos. The measure aims to safeguard privacy, protect reputations and curb the spread of synthetic-media misuse across the kingdom. (News of Bahrain)
Mobility
Space42, Autonomous A2Z form Level-4 driving JV
#UAE #AVs – Abu Dhabi’s Space42 and South Korea’s Autonomous A2Z have created a joint venture to commercialise Level-4 autonomous-driving technologies. The partnership will retrofit fleets with self-driving systems, supporting the UAE’s target for 25% of trips to be autonomous by 2030. (Zawya)
Tensor showcases personal Robocar at DRIFTx 2025
#UAE #AVs – Silicon Valley’s Tensor is debuting its fully autonomous personal Robocar at DRIFTx 2025 in Abu Dhabi. Designed for private ownership, the vehicle demonstrates how consumer-grade autonomous mobility is evolving beyond fleet deployment towards individual users. (Gulf Business)
Smart Cities
Dubai deploys AI drone system for green-space monitoring
#UAE #parks – Dubai Municipality has launched the Smart Municipality Eye to monitor 52 million m² of green space using AI-enabled drones. Partnering with UAE drone maker Eanan, the system assesses plant health and irrigation in real time to support predictive maintenance. (Middle East AI News)
Events
Dubai AI Festival expands to DWTC in 2026!
#UAE #events– Dubai AI Festival 2026 will move to Dubai World Trade Centre and take place on 7 and 8 April as part of Dubai AI Week (6-10 April). Organised by DIFC’s Dubai AI Campus, the event expects over 20,000 attendees, 500 investors and 200 exhibitors from 120+ countries. (Middle East AI News)
[ This newsletter was both AI edited & human edited ]