Riyadh to Host Third Edition of Global AI Summit in September

Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Prime Minister and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA). (SPA)
Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Prime Minister and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA). (SPA)
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Riyadh to Host Third Edition of Global AI Summit in September

Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Prime Minister and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA). (SPA)
Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Prime Minister and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA). (SPA)

The third edition of the Global AI Summit will be held in Riyadh in September under the patronage of Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Prime Minister and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA).

Held from September 10 to 12, the summit will bring together experts, policymakers, and industry leaders to discuss the future of artificial intelligence.

Riyadh will witness a gathering of international AI technology experts, where participants will exchange ideas and visions for the ethical development and application of AI technologies.

Aligned with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, the summit aims to establish the Kingdom as a global leader in AI innovation.

The event will bring together influential figures from across the globe, such as government officials, AI researchers, and technology executives. Notable participants will include Stefan Schnurr, Simon See, Alex Smolla, Julie Sweet, Nick Studer, Cristiano Amon, Amandeep Gill, and Douglas Schmidt, along with other prominent names in the field.

The summit will feature the signing of agreements and memoranda of understanding, as well as the launch of international initiatives aimed at advancing AI development and benefiting countries worldwide.

These initiatives align with Saudi Arabia's aspiration to become a global model for AI leadership and support international efforts in the field.



Russia says DDoS Attack Disrupts Telegram, WhatsApp

Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to logos of social media apps Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram projected on a screen in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. (Reuters)
Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to logos of social media apps Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram projected on a screen in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. (Reuters)
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Russia says DDoS Attack Disrupts Telegram, WhatsApp

Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to logos of social media apps Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram projected on a screen in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. (Reuters)
Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to logos of social media apps Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram projected on a screen in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. (Reuters)

Russian users of Telegram and WhatsApp had trouble accessing the messaging apps on Wednesday due to disruption the state communications monitoring service said was caused by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.

The service said the attack had been repelled and that the messaging networks were working normally again. Russian media said other sites, including Wikipedia, Skype and the social media platform Discord had also been affected, Reuters reported.

"The disruption is related to a DDoS attack on Russian telecom operators," the service said in a statement, without saying who might have been responsible.

Wednesday's disruption to the messaging apps, which are widely popular in Russia, came weeks after Russian internet monitoring services reported a mass outage on the availability of video hosting site YouTube as Russian authorities step up criticism of the platform.

Hundreds of Russian users of Signal reported glitches with the secure messenger app earlier this month.

Russia began to block access to Telegram in 2018. The action interrupted many third-party services, but had little effect on the availability of Telegram there.

WhatsApp's parent company Meta Platforms Inc was branded an "extremist" organisation by Moscow in 2022 and other Meta services - Facebook and Instagram - are now banned in Russia, but can still be accessed using virtual private networks (VPNs).