Saudi Arabia to Host Largest Int’l Gathering of AI Policymakers

The operations center at the headquarters of the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The operations center at the headquarters of the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia to Host Largest Int’l Gathering of AI Policymakers

The operations center at the headquarters of the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The operations center at the headquarters of the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia is preparing to host the second Global Artificial Intelligence Summit from Sept. 13 to 15 in Riyadh.

The summit, entitled “Artificial Intelligence for the Good of Humanity,” is being organized by the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence, and being held under the patronage of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is the chairman of SDAIA’s board of directors.

The conference will be held at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center.

The summit is to highlight a number of topics that show the implications of AI on the most important sectors, such as smart cities, human capacity development, health care, transportation, energy, culture and heritage, environment, and economic mobility, to find solutions to current challenges and maximize the use of AI technologies.

The importance of the second summit lies in the fact that it deals with modern topics related to AI and its multiple uses in human life in the twenty-first century. The Kingdom seeks to achieve international leadership in becoming home to one of the economies based on data and AI.

This global summit will seek to become a major world forum in the field of artificial intelligence, after the success achieved in the first summit held in 2020.

The summit will discuss everything related to AI technologies and participants include experts and specialists, senior officials from government agencies and the largest international technology companies.

Various presentations will be held highlighting the latest research and technologies, while participants will also exchange expertise, and discover investment opportunities.

More than 200 experts and decision-makers took part in the first edition of the Global Artificial Intelligence Summit, which was held over two days, while more than 13,000 people attended the forum. The summit received more than 5 million views on social media networks.



World Bank Redirects Funds Towards Lebanon Emergency Aid

Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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World Bank Redirects Funds Towards Lebanon Emergency Aid

Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The World Bank announced on Thursday that it was redirecting funds originally earmarked for development programs in Lebanon towards emergency aid for people displaced by Israeli bombardment of the country.

"The World Bank is activating emergency response plans to be able to repurpose resources in the portfolio to respond to the urgent needs of people in Lebanon," said a statement from the US-based multilateral institution.

The multilateral institution currently has $1.5 billion in funding for programs in Lebanon. Part of this amount will be redirected.

Since September 23, more than 1,000 people have been killed in an Israeli air-and-ground campaign on Lebanon that has targeted armed group Hezbollah in the south and east of the country, with strikes expanding to include the capital Beirut.

Thousands have been displaced since the bombing began, and the funds would be used to provide aid to those populations, the World Bank said.

"This would include emergency support to displaced people that could be deployed through a digital platform the World Bank helped put in place during the Covid epidemic," the statement said.