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Google to Open Two New HQs in Saudi Arabia

Managing Director for Google in the Middle East & North Africa Anthony Nakache at a conference in Riyadh on Tuesday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Managing Director for Google in the Middle East & North Africa Anthony Nakache at a conference in Riyadh on Tuesday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Google to Open Two New HQs in Saudi Arabia

Managing Director for Google in the Middle East & North Africa Anthony Nakache at a conference in Riyadh on Tuesday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Managing Director for Google in the Middle East & North Africa Anthony Nakache at a conference in Riyadh on Tuesday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

American multinational technology company Google is preparing for launching two new headquarter offices in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The planned offices will open in the cities of Riyadh and al-Dammam. Google also is building a data partnership with Saudi oil giant, Aramco.

Google drove about SR12.2 billion ($3.25 billion) in economic activity in Saudi Arabia in 2021, with the Android Developer ecosystem supporting at least 29,000 jobs in the kingdom every year.

The search engine giant announced the figures in its latest impact report released on Tuesday. The report was based on public polling, economic modeling, and third-party data.

Besides, YouTube channels are making six figures or more in revenue are up by 20% year over year and the total number of developers making over SR37,500 ($10,000) per month or more on Play grew by 15%, said the Google Impact Report.

According to the report, 66% of people used Google Maps to find a local business and 52% of businesses reported an increase of customers coming from online search or search advertising in the last two years.

The paper also found that 67% of online businesses said that Google Workspace was essential in enabling remote working (Google workspace is a collection of cloud computing and collaboration tools like Google Drive, Gmail and Meet).

“It's great to see the positive impact Google products like Search, YouTube, Maps and Android have on the daily lives of Saudi people, local business owners, developers and content creators,” said Anthony Nakache, Managing Director for Google in the Middle East & North Africa.

“Saudi Arabia is young, smart and digital, and we're proud to be an engine of growth in the country and an enabler in its digital transformation journey,” he added.

“We're excited to see what great things people can do there given the right tools and skills and we are committed to doing more through programs and local partnerships,” he remarked.

“In the last couple of years, Covid-19 has helped accelerate some preexisting trends such as the rise of e-commerce, the shift towards remote working and the use of online tools to support lifelong learning,” said Jonathan Dupont, Partner at Public First.

“In our research, people and businesses across the Middle East told us how important Google’s tools and services had been in enabling them to adapt to these changes: helping small businesses start to sell online, supporting workers to collaborate better online and children to keep learning,” he added.

In October 2020, Google announced a $13 million fund to help one million people and businesses in the Middle East and North Africa learn advanced digital skills and grow their businesses by the end of 2021.

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Technology

AI Offers Hope for Young Filmmakers Dreaming of an Oscar

Chinese USC student SiJia Zheng speaks about how he used artificial intelligence to modify his face and make him into all the different characters of his short film 'Torment'. Frederic J. BROWN / AFP
Chinese USC student SiJia Zheng speaks about how he used artificial intelligence to modify his face and make him into all the different characters of his short film 'Torment'. Frederic J. BROWN / AFP
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AI Offers Hope for Young Filmmakers Dreaming of an Oscar

Chinese USC student SiJia Zheng speaks about how he used artificial intelligence to modify his face and make him into all the different characters of his short film 'Torment'. Frederic J. BROWN / AFP
Chinese USC student SiJia Zheng speaks about how he used artificial intelligence to modify his face and make him into all the different characters of his short film 'Torment'. Frederic J. BROWN / AFP

Studying at the film school where Oscar-nominated "Sinners" director Ryan Coogler honed his craft, SiJia Zheng dreams of winning an Academy Award.

Now with the recent developments in artificial intelligence, he can see a shortcut to achieving his ambition.3

"That's a chance for beginners like me who can use AI to just make a film and to announce to the world that I have the ability to be a director," he told AFP.

Zheng, 29, who hails from China, is one of a burgeoning class of students at USC's School of Cinematic Arts, studying animation in a place that has long been a training ground for future Pixar and DreamWorks talent.

He has used his time at the Los Angeles university to learn about the emerging field of AI animation.

That has included producing his seven-minute short film "Torment" about a masked killer terrorizing a high school.

The film, which was recognized at the LA Shorts festival, was generated entirely by AI -- in just one week.

Zheng recorded himself in front of a green screen and then asked the software to modify his face to make him into all the different characters in the movie.

The technology also allowed him to set his story in an Asian school and have scenes in a swimming pool -- two things that would have cost a fortune if he had filmed them traditionally.

"As a student, it's impossible to have that much money" to produce a film, he said.

- 'Tool' -

Not everyone in Hollywood feels so positively about AI.

The technology was one of the key sticking points in the writers' and actors' strikes that paralyzed Hollywood in 2023.

Guillermo del Toro, the director of "Frankenstein," which will compete for the best picture Oscar on Sunday, is notoriously anti-AI, insisting he would "rather die" than use it.

Zheng said he had been impressed by the Mexican director's "amazing" film, particularly the opening scene where the monster attacks a 19th-century three-masted ship, which del Toro's prop department constructed specially for the movie.

But "when I watched the film...I was just thinking: 'Oh, using AI to do that would be much cheaper and...make something pretty similar.'"

He insists, however, that it doesn't replace the filmmaking spark.

"AI is just a tool, and people can use it to become even better."

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the body that will hand out the Oscars in Hollywood on March 15, seems to agree -- last year the body updated its rules to say it was neutral on the technology.

"Generative Artificial Intelligence and other digital tools...neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination," it said last April.

- 'Ethical' use -

At the University of Southern California (USC), teachers like Debra Isaac are trying to navigate the ethics around the emerging technology of AI.

The animation professor said she was shocked by an AI video that rocketed around the internet in recent weeks.

The short sequence, created by Seedance -- the AI generation model developed by TikTok's parent company, Bytedance -- shows an ersatz fight between Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. Neither star was compensated.

But, used properly, AI does not need to be exploitative, and is not a lazy way to make films, Isaac said.

"It's not just about, 'Hey, I have a prompt, and I'm just gonna type a few words and I'll get my image, and I'll get my animation, and I'm done,'" she said.

"Some of these tools are not ethically dubious at all. They're trained by people that are using their own work," she added.

That's precisely what Xindi Zhang, a recent graduate of the program and winner of a Student Academy Award for her short film "The Song of Drifters," did.

For the mini-documentary about the difficulty of feeling at home anywhere, the 29-year-old artist fed the AI dozens of her drawings.

The database then served as graphic inspiration, allowing the computer to stylize the shots of the cities where the film takes place, accelerating production that would otherwise have taken years.

Even with the help of AI, she spent nearly a month perfecting certain shots.

It's "a craft that nobody really appreciates right now," she says.

But anyone who looks at the use of AI will soon find it's not a compromise-free shortcut to perfection.

"Good, cheap and fast will never happen, no matter what tool you use," Zhang said.

Technology

Saudi Arabia Leads Globally in Women’s AI Empowerment with Groundbreaking Initiatives

Saudi Arabia Leads Globally in Women’s AI Empowerment with Groundbreaking Initiatives
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Saudi Arabia Leads Globally in Women’s AI Empowerment with Groundbreaking Initiatives

Saudi Arabia Leads Globally in Women’s AI Empowerment with Groundbreaking Initiatives

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has made significant strides in empowering women in the data and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors, aiming to elevate their global competitiveness as part of Saudi Vision 2030.

Numerous initiatives have increased the participation of Saudi women in advanced technologies, with the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) offering specialized programs and workshops in partnership with global technology leaders, SPA reported.

In just one year, over 666,000 Saudi women received training in data and AI, positioning the Kingdom first globally in women’s AI empowerment, according to the 2025 AI Index by Stanford University. Key initiatives include the Artificial Intelligence Academy with Microsoft, the Generative AI Academy with NVIDIA, the "SAMAI" initiative (targeting one million Saudis in AI), and the development of a national data and AI curriculum for university students.

These programs have enhanced women's skills and facilitated their contributions to crucial sectors such as health, energy, and education.

SDAIA has created a supportive work environment for women through flexible digital infrastructure, enabling remote work and work-life balance. This commitment reflects the Kingdom's dedication to building a sustainable, data-driven economy, with Saudi women now playing vital roles in shaping the future of advanced technologies.

Technology

China Could See Widespread Use of Brain-Computer Tech in 3-5 Years, Expert Says

People cross a road in Beijing on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
People cross a road in Beijing on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
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China Could See Widespread Use of Brain-Computer Tech in 3-5 Years, Expert Says

People cross a road in Beijing on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
People cross a road in Beijing on March 6, 2026. (AFP)

China could see brain-computer interface (BCI) technology move into practical public use within three to five years as products mature, a leading BCI expert said, as Beijing races to catch up with US startups including Elon Musk's Neuralink.

Beijing elevated BCIs to a core future strategic industry in its new five-year plan released this week, placing it alongside sectors such as quantum, embodied AI, 6G and nuclear fusion.

"New policies will not change things overnight. I think after another three to five years, we will gradually see some (BCI) products moving ‌towards actual practical ‌service for the public," said Yao Dezhong, Director of ‌the ⁠Sichuan Institute of Brain ⁠Science, in an interview on Saturday on the sidelines of China's annual parliament meetings in Beijing.

TRIALS

A national BCI development strategy released last year aims for major technical breakthroughs by 2027 and for China to cultivate two or three world-class firms by 2030.

China is the second country to launch invasive BCI human trials. More than 10 trials are active, matching the US, while scientists plan to enroll more ⁠than 50 patients nationwide this year.

Recent high-profile trials have enabled ‌paralyzed patients and amputees to regain partial mobility ‌and operate robotic hands or intelligent wheelchairs.

The government has already integrated some BCI treatments into ‌national medical insurance in a few pilot provinces, and the domestic market is ‌projected to reach 5.58 billion yuan ($809 million) by 2027, according to CCID Consulting.

"China has many advantages in BCIs, such as its huge population, enormous patient demand, cost-effective industrial chain and abundant pool of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) talent," said Yao, who also ‌leads a key neuroinformatics research center under China's science and technology ministry.

Policies such as insurance integration and national standards aim ⁠to close the "huge" ⁠gap between scientific research, industry and clinical applications, he said.

"The path from experimental to clinical trials is quite long, and this remains a problem," he told Reuters, adding that many Chinese hospitals have established BCI research labs to speed up the process.

While US startups like Neuralink focus on invasive chips that penetrate brain tissue, Chinese researchers are developing invasive, semi-invasive and non-invasive BCIs with wider potential clinical use.

Semi-invasive BCIs, placed on the brain's surface, may lose some signal quality but reduce risks such as tissue damage and other post-surgery complications. Neuralink's surgical robot can insert hundreds of electrodes into the brain in minutes.

"This is a technical advantage, which I think is remarkable," said Yao, of Neuralink.

"(But) China is actually making very fast progress in this area now. In fact, Musk's direction is basically achievable domestically."