Introduction
Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN initiative, backed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), marks a bold and distinctive leap in the global AI race, positioning the country as a serious contender in sovereign AI development. What sets HUMAIN apart is its centralized governance model, distinct from the more decentralized or private sector-led models in countries such as the UAE and the US. While the UAE promotes a distributed ecosystem through entities such as the ministry of AI, G42, and the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), and the US relies heavily on private innovation supported by government institutions such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the National AI Initiative Office, HUMAIN stands out for its sovereign, state-directed ambition to position the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a global AI powerhouse.
HUMAIN, however, is not a one-off moonshot. It is part of a broader, well-established strategy under Saudi Vision 2030 to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy and reduce its reliance on oil, supported by major bets on transformative technologies. In February 2024, the PIF launched Alat, a sustainable manufacturing company with a $100 billion investment, to drive sustainable electronics and industrial production. Alat alone is projected to contribute $9.3 billion to non-oil GDP and create 39,000 jobs by 2030. HUMAIN is the next step in Saudi Arabia’s strategy to place itself at the forefront of AI sovereignty and innovation.
Constructs of HUMAIN
HUMAIN is not Saudi Arabia’s first foray into the AI landscape; it builds on years of strategic groundwork. One of the key milestones was LEAP 2025, the global tech event hosted in Riyadh, where Saudi Arabia announced $14.9 billion in new AI investments, underscoring its ambition to become a global AI leader and accelerate economic diversification.
Figure 1: Constructs of the HUMAIN initiative
Now, HUMAIN marks the next major chapter. The initiative will be spearheaded by Tareq Amin, former CEO of Aramco Digital. , having led Aramco’s development of the world’s largest industrial LLM, boasting 250 billion parameters, a milestone in domain-specific AI. With HUMAIN, Amin is poised to build on that success by developing a full-spectrum AI stack, encompassing everything from foundational models and infrastructure to application layers and workforce development.
Talent also forms a critical pillar of the HUMAIN initiative. Saudi Arabia is consolidating top talent from top digital companies, including Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA), TONOMUS, and Aramco Digital, under the HUMAIN umbrella. Strategic partnerships with global tech firms further strengthen the initiative, enabling it to scale generative AI (Gen AI) skills and workforce readiness in alignment with Vision 2030’s digital transformation agenda.
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- AWS has pledged to train 100,000 Saudi citizens in cloud computing and Gen AI. This includes a dedicated free-of-charge program to equip 10,000 women with AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials training delivered by AWS-certified instructors.
- Cisco is launching the Cisco AI Institute at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to advance AI research and cultivate next-generation talent. Additionally, Cisco aims to provide free digital training covering AI, cybersecurity, and software development for 500,000 individuals over the next five years.
Final Thoughts
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 is more than an economic diversification agenda; it is a strategic bet to position the country as a regional AI leader and a rising global player in tech diplomacy. By combining sovereign capital, energy resources, and a top-down execution model, Saudi Arabia is not just buying into AI but building the foundations to become self-sufficient.
The US remains a key partner, with Big Tech players such as OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, and xAI eager to tap into Saudi Arabia’s deep pockets for funding, infrastructure, and market access. But the long game is more complex. As Saudi Arabia builds domestic capability and strategic assets in AI, it could eventually reduce reliance on Western tech ecosystems, positioning itself as an AI powerhouse.
For the US, the stakes are increasingly high. Securing Saudi Arabia’s alignment within its geopolitical and technological sphere of influence is a strategic priority, particularly as China deepens its footprint in the country. Through its Belt and Road Initiative and expanding digital infrastructure ambitions, China has invested heavily in Saudi Arabia, with total infrastructure investments reaching $53.85 billion between 2005 and June 2024; $31.45 billion of that investment has come since 2016 alone. In this emerging tripolar AI world order, where the US, China, and a handful of sovereign tech players are vying for influence, the US would rather see Riyadh aligned with Silicon Valley than tethered to Beijing’s tech stack.
In short, Saudi Arabia is no longer just a buyer of innovation; it is becoming a builder. While it still courts partnerships with the West, it prepares for a future where it sets the terms.
By Chandrika Dutt, Research Director, Avasant, and Abhisekh Satapathy, Principal Analyst, Avasant