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AI-Powered Cultural Programs to Transform Saudi Arabia’s Creative Sector

The Ministry of Culture and the Cultural Development Fund signed a memorandum of understanding with SDAIA to explore joint AI programs serving the cultural sector. Photo: Ministry of Culture
The Ministry of Culture and the Cultural Development Fund signed a memorandum of understanding with SDAIA to explore joint AI programs serving the cultural sector. Photo: Ministry of Culture
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AI-Powered Cultural Programs to Transform Saudi Arabia’s Creative Sector

The Ministry of Culture and the Cultural Development Fund signed a memorandum of understanding with SDAIA to explore joint AI programs serving the cultural sector. Photo: Ministry of Culture
The Ministry of Culture and the Cultural Development Fund signed a memorandum of understanding with SDAIA to explore joint AI programs serving the cultural sector. Photo: Ministry of Culture

Saudi Arabia is preparing to launch a new generation of AI-powered cultural initiatives aimed at reshaping innovation, boosting the efficiency of creative institutions, and helping Saudi artists expand their presence at home and abroad.

On Monday, the Ministry of Culture and the Cultural Development Fund signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) to explore joint AI programs serving the cultural sector, creators, and cultural enterprises.

The move reflects a broader national drive to accelerate the adoption of advanced technologies across the cultural economy as the Kingdom prepares to designate 2026 the Year of Artificial Intelligence.

Building an Enabling Ecosystem

Raed bin Khalil Al Eid, a cultural innovation adviser and founder of the Cultural Management Platform, said the agreement reflects growing recognition of AI’s role in the future of culture.

Although the initiative comes some time after the launch of the Year of AI, he said the delay should not prevent institutions and practitioners from benefiting from the programs expected to emerge.

What matters most, he added, is effective implementation that translates the memorandum into projects with tangible impact.

Al Eid cited a specialized study by the Cultural Management Platform that documented AI applications across all 16 cultural sectors officially recognized in Saudi Arabia, including heritage, museums, libraries, literature, publishing, translation, music, theater, film, architecture, fashion, and culinary arts.

The findings showed that AI has become an enabling technology applicable across the entire cultural ecosystem rather than a tool limited to a single discipline, broadening investment opportunities and making its adoption in Saudi Arabia increasingly practical.

He argued that the Ministry of Culture’s primary role at this stage is to create an enabling environment for AI by establishing policies, regulations, professional standards, and governance frameworks covering intellectual property, data, and ethics.

This, he said, would allow private companies, nonprofit organizations, and community initiatives to develop AI solutions with confidence.

Culture in the Year of AI

Al Eid said cultural innovation is no longer optional but essential as audiences, cultural consumption habits, generational interests, and regional priorities continue to evolve.

He emphasized that coupled with AI, cultural innovation can do more than improve efficiency: it can broaden culture’s reach, engage new audiences, and create more diverse, interactive, and sustainable cultural experiences.

Saudi Arabia’s cultural sector is already undergoing a rapid digital transformation, with further momentum expected as the Kingdom marks 2026 as the Year of Artificial Intelligence. The Ministry of Culture and its affiliated commissions have launched competitions and hackathons to attract innovators and encourage the development of AI applications across the cultural sector.

For Saudi artists and cultural professionals, the initiative is expected to open new opportunities to combine human creativity with advanced AI capabilities across a wide range of creative fields.

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Culture

Qassim Artisans Repurpose Date Pits into Value-Added Prayer Beads

Qassim Region are converting discarded date pits into handcrafted prayer beads (subha)
Qassim Region are converting discarded date pits into handcrafted prayer beads (subha)
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Qassim Artisans Repurpose Date Pits into Value-Added Prayer Beads

Qassim Region are converting discarded date pits into handcrafted prayer beads (subha)
Qassim Region are converting discarded date pits into handcrafted prayer beads (subha)

In a creative convergence of traditional heritage, sustainable manufacturing, and resource efficiency, artisans in Qassim Region are converting discarded date pits into handcrafted prayer beads (subha), transforming an agricultural by-product into a high-value consumer item, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The production journey involves a multi-stage process encompassing sorting, cleaning, drying, precise drilling, sanding, polishing, stringing, and final packaging. The resulting product retains the natural texture, color variations, and contours of the palm seed, reflecting the Kingdom's broader drive to foster innovative secondary industries across the date value chain.

The production journey involves a multi-stage process encompassing sorting, cleaning, drying, precise drilling, sanding, polishing, stringing, and final packaging.

Speaking to the Saudi Press Agency, artisan Noura Al-Harbi explained that the craft requires meticulous manual skill. She stated that after selecting pits of comparable size, artisans drill them for threading, buff rough contours, and polish the surfaces to showcase their organic aesthetic before assembling them with regional decorative motifs. Because no two date pits are identical, each finished rosary possesses a distinct texture and individuality.

Al-Harbi emphasized that the market value of date-pit rosaries is elevated by their symbolic connection to the date palm, a central fixture of Saudi agricultural and cultural identity. This narrative creates strong commercial potential within cultural tourism, corporate gifts, and keepsake sectors, allowing visitors to acquire a product directly tied to local heritage.

The enterprise embodies principles of the circular economy by repurposing agricultural waste from farms and processing plants into marketable craft products. Al-Harbi noted that integrating semi-automated tools for drilling and cutting with manual finishing could scale production volumes while maintaining artisanal quality.

Bridging agriculture, creative entrepreneurship, and tourism, the craft highlights how supporting local artisans and modernizing packaging can expand the economic footprint of the Kingdom's date sector beyond food consumption, creating new avenues for sustainable cottage industries.

Culture

Riyadh Art Brings Monumental Works by Saudi Artist Mohammed Al Saleem to its Permanent Collection of Public Art

Created by Saudi-based architecture and engineering consultancy Omrania, the Western Metro Station reinterprets desert sand dunes through earth-colored forms that define entrances - SPA
Created by Saudi-based architecture and engineering consultancy Omrania, the Western Metro Station reinterprets desert sand dunes through earth-colored forms that define entrances - SPA
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Riyadh Art Brings Monumental Works by Saudi Artist Mohammed Al Saleem to its Permanent Collection of Public Art

Created by Saudi-based architecture and engineering consultancy Omrania, the Western Metro Station reinterprets desert sand dunes through earth-colored forms that define entrances - SPA
Created by Saudi-based architecture and engineering consultancy Omrania, the Western Metro Station reinterprets desert sand dunes through earth-colored forms that define entrances - SPA

Riyadh Art announced the addition of seven monumental sculptures by pioneering Saudi artist Mohammed Al Saleem to the Riyadh Art permanent collection. Six works have been installed at Western Metro Station on Line 3 (Orange Line) in Riyadh, with the seventh scheduled for installation at a later date.

The sculptures bring an important part of Al Saleem's artistic practice into the city for which they were originally conceived.

Created in 1985 for a Riyadh Municipality public art competition but never installed, the seven works remained in Al Saleem's workshop for decades. In 2022, the Royal Commission for Riyadh City acquired the sculptures and undertook their restoration and conservation, supervised by his daughter, Najla Mohammed Al Saleem, and Al Saleem's foundation, Dar Al-Funoon Al-Sa'udiyyah, to preserve the artist's original vision, SPA reported.

The seven works are Al Showkah Al Khumasiyah (The Pentagon Thorn), Shurfa (Parapet Merlon), Al Kurah (The Ball), Al Mouthalathat (The Triangles), Bur'aum Al Zahrah (The Flower Bud), and Al Ahilla (The Crescents), all installed this August, with Al Nafourah Al Halazouniyah (The Spiral Fountain) due to be installed at a later date. Drawing on desert landscapes, Najdi architecture, geometric forms, and celestial references, the sculptures reflect Al Saleem's distinctive approach to abstraction and the influence of Riyadh and Najd on his practice.

Created by Saudi-based architecture and engineering consultancy Omrania, the Western Metro Station reinterprets desert sand dunes through earth-colored forms that define entrances, allow natural light, and provide shade for pedestrians. Located within Western Station's outdoor plaza, the works bring these references into a contemporary public setting shaped by movement and connection.

"Mohammed Al Saleem holds an important place in the history of modern Saudi art, and his work is deeply connected to Riyadh and the landscape and architecture of Najd," said Senior Director of Riyadh Art Bader AlShenaifi. "Bringing these works into the Riyadh Art permanent collection preserves an important part of Saudi Arabia's artistic heritage while giving Al Saleem's work a lasting presence in the public life of the city that inspired so much of his practice."

The works join the Riyadh Art permanent collection, a citywide collection of public artworks installed across neighborhoods, public spaces, and major transport corridors throughout the capital. The Riyadh Art permanent collection now comprises 82 artworks across the capital.

Culture

Paris’ Louvre and Other Top Museums to Close on Saturday Over Concern about Protest Violence

Visitors wait outside as protesters block the entrance to the Louvre Museum to express their support for the high school students' movement in Paris, France, 19 October 2026, two days after demonstrations and riots took place alongside nationwide cost-of-living protests. (EPA)
Visitors wait outside as protesters block the entrance to the Louvre Museum to express their support for the high school students' movement in Paris, France, 19 October 2026, two days after demonstrations and riots took place alongside nationwide cost-of-living protests. (EPA)
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Paris’ Louvre and Other Top Museums to Close on Saturday Over Concern about Protest Violence

Visitors wait outside as protesters block the entrance to the Louvre Museum to express their support for the high school students' movement in Paris, France, 19 October 2026, two days after demonstrations and riots took place alongside nationwide cost-of-living protests. (EPA)
Visitors wait outside as protesters block the entrance to the Louvre Museum to express their support for the high school students' movement in Paris, France, 19 October 2026, two days after demonstrations and riots took place alongside nationwide cost-of-living protests. (EPA)

The Louvre and several other major Paris museums will be closed on Saturday over concerns about potential violence during planned protests, France’s culture ministry said.

In a statement to The Associated Press, the ministry said the Orsay and Picasso museums were also among those that will close.

Protests last Saturday devolved into mayhem, with rioters setting fires, smashing shop windows, looting and clashing with police. The ministry called on all institutions under its authority to adopt any necessary measures to ensure “visitor safety, staff protection and the preservation of artworks,” according to the statement.

Others are taking the same tack. After two days when admission was invite-only, Art Basel Paris opened to the public on Friday — but only for the day, with the threat of unrest prompting organizers on Thursday to cancel the weekend program.

Paris’ Grand Palais is hosting 211 international galleries and their exhibitions for Art Basel, considered one of the world’s most prestigious contemporary art fairs.

“It’s kind of like the art Olympics,” New York-based artist Drake Carr, who is showing his work with Mariposa Gallery, said in an interview.

However, timing proved unfortunate, with the French capital gripped by social tension. The clashes and widespread looting over the weekend marked France’s most violent unrest in years.

A protest on Thursday afternoon in Paris was peaceful, and Art Basel's organizers announced the decision to close for the weekend around the same time. The protest planned for Saturday is expected to be much larger.

"This decision has not been taken lightly, and the safety of everyone involved in the fair remains our utmost priority," organizers said in a statement. Its website posted a similar announcement and said weekend ticketholders would be contacted.

Saloni Doshi, an art collector who travelled to Paris from India for the fair, grew worried last Saturday as she saw the fires and panicked people, and she received phone calls from friends asking whether Paris was safe. She agreed with the organizers' rationale to close.

“It's hard that something like this has to happen, but state activities and people's freedom have to continue,” she told the AP. “I cannot imagine that a bunch of elite, privileged people getting inconvenienced because of this should have a voice.”

Antoine Donzeaud and Elisa Rigoulet, the owners of the gallery exo exo, felt the same.

“We understand this decision, which we consider reasonable and consistent with the urgency of the social demands currently unfolding in France,” they said in a text message.