The study provides information for policymakers, researchers and industry professionals to better understand the current situation regarding artificial intelligence and possible future trends.

This year’s report suggests a high rate of confidence among Saudi citizens when dealing with AI products and services. The Kingdom ranked second globally, after China, in terms of people’s positivity and optimism toward the technology.

The survey covered several areas, the most important being the extent of “society’s knowledge of the benefits and value of AI products and services.”

Saudi Arabia ranked joint first with China on a question about the “positive impact of AI products and services on the lives of respondents in the survey during the next three to five years.”

It ranked second on the question of “whether AI products and services will make the lives of the respondents in the survey easier” and also when respondents were asked about their “knowledge of the benefits and value of AI products and services.”

Saudi Arabia has a keen interest in artificial intelligence. At the G20 Summit in Osaka in 2019, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said: “We live in a time of scientific innovations, unprecedented technologies and unlimited growth prospects.

“If used optimally, these new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and the internet of things, can avoid many harms and bring huge benefits.”