Ashraf AboArafe
The efforts undertaken by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) have resulted in the Kingdom topping global indicators in the field of data and artificial intelligence, most notably the government strategy index for artificial intelligence according to the global classification of artificial intelligence, and ranked second globally in societal awareness of artificial intelligence according to the Stanford University International Index. for Artificial Intelligence 2023, and the “Tawakkalna” system won the United Nations Public Service Award 2022 in the category of Institutional Resilience and Innovative Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic, in an international confirmation of the Kingdom’s technical and digital leadership.
This global distinction came in return for the great efforts that Sadaya has been making since its establishment in 2019 in order to lead the national trend for data and artificial intelligence to contribute to advancing the Kingdom to leadership within the economies based on data and artificial intelligence, and to intensify efforts aimed at raising the Kingdom’s position in global indicators concerned with data and intelligence. This is within the framework of the support and guidance it enjoys from His Royal Highness 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.
“Sadaya” was distinguished in its professional performance, which qualified it to obtain international certificates, including: 4 certificates from the leading international organization ICMG for excellence in the structure of the technical infrastructure in the world, a certificate of excellence in the category of access to information and knowledge, and the National Information Center obtaining the international accreditation certificate for Tier III data centers. In addition to obtaining the fifth maturity level certificate in the field of software development, and the third maturity level certificate in the field of service provision.
It also recently obtained 3 ISO certificates for the integrated management system in the ISO 9001 Quality Management System, the ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System, and the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System. In return for adopting the best standards, procedures and policies to raise the level of quality, environment, health and occupational safety management in the Authority, and the (ISO22301) certificate for business continuity management.
Amidst this distinguished work, the Ihsan platform, whose operation is technically supervised by Sadaya, won the Digital Government Award for Best Digital Service for the Tayserat service, and was registered in the Guinness Book of World Records as a result of achieving the largest daily donation within 24 hours in the world. The digital transformation of smart cities also contributed to The Kingdom, led by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), in cooperation with a number of government agencies, has led five Saudi cities to rise in the ranks of the IMD Index for Smart Cities in the World for the year 2024 issued by the International Institute for Management Development.
These efforts are integrated with the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority’s other national roles that are in the interest of supporting digital transformation in the Kingdom through the Saudi Vision 2030 programs, whose targets are directly linked to data and artificial intelligence by 70%, in a way that enhances the country’s position to become a leading country. In the field of data and artificial intelligence, and to maximize the benefit of these advanced technologies to facilitate service procedures for citizens and residents.
“Sadaya” worked to achieve the goals of the vision programs, including the Quality of Life program through several initiatives and projects, including: (Tawakkalna application), which enhanced the concept of quality of life for more than 30 million users in the Kingdom, through more than 240 digital services from which individuals and entities benefited in ways. Advanced digital technology has facilitated access to government services with ease. It has also contributed, through the National Unified Access (Nafath) application, to creating an easy and reliable experience for the user by supporting the individual’s access to government agencies’ services in an organized and easy manner.
On the humanitarian side, “Sadaya” has provided the national platform for charitable work, “Ihsan,” with the highest levels of data and artificial intelligence technologies in order to facilitate the donation of benefactors and ensure that their donations reach those who deserve them as quickly as possible. The impact of this effort will be reflected, thanks to God Almighty, and the platform’s total donations to this day will reach more than 6 billion riyals, benefiting more than 4.8 million beneficiaries, male and female.
Through the National Smart Cities Platform, Sdaya provided advanced analyzes through simulation models that support the construction of future plans and directions with solutions based on artificial intelligence algorithms, smart city operations centers, and the digital certification service, and its services include the digital seal, the Nabaa platform, the Efaa platform, and the Shamoos platform, in addition to Introducing the “Your Voice” project, which is an artificial intelligence system that allows speech to be converted into text via voice recognition in classical Arabic and local dialects. It can be used to automate the recording of meetings, develop chat bots, and build interactive audio systems.
With regard to the program for serving the guests of God, one of the vision programs, “Sadaya” provided high-level technical services to contribute to serving the guests of God, including the establishment of the “Sawaher” platform, and the “Baseer” platform, which were developed to enable the organization of crowds in the Grand Mosque and the management of movement according to the capacity in each place. site, and efforts included building integrated technical services to support the Makkah Road Initiative, and reception halls for pilgrims through 15 air, sea and land ports in the Kingdom and in Makkah Al-Mukarramah and the roads leading to it and the holy sites.
Sadaya prepared the digital infrastructure for the passenger system, which is one of the advanced, high-precision technical systems that it provided at all air and land ports. With the aim of registering the entry and exit of passengers, the system contributed to the speed of the entry and exit of passengers, due to the availability of all the necessary data that is available through integration and interconnection with the systems, with its addition to the mobile luggage service.
Its efforts to support the health sector transformation program, so it launched the Center of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence in Health, as part of its cooperation with the Ministry of Health to develop the national strategy for data and artificial intelligence in the field of health, and build the basics and standards of health data and artificial intelligence capabilities. It also launched a national center for innovation in the field of data and artificial intelligence in the sector. Health, along with King Khalid Eye Specialist Hospital, Leen Company, and the Saudi Artificial Intelligence Company (Sky), launched the “Aynay” solution, which was developed locally by Saudi engineers and experts specialized in artificial intelligence, to constitute a revolution in the field of medical diagnosis at the regional level.
The “Aynay” solution is one of the leading medical solutions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to accurately detect and diagnose diabetic retinopathy by taking advantage of advanced analyzes and smart algorithms. This solution was designed to simplify and accelerate the examination process, and address the challenges posed by limited resources and examinations. Which takes a long time and high costs.
Within the framework of this program, Sdaya developed the early breast cancer detection program using artificial intelligence, and the artificial intelligence laboratory for medical images in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, by equipping the infrastructure and computing power and developing artificial intelligence models for medical images, as the project aims to provide a unified source for the necessary medical data and images. For development processes, and providing an environment to operate and apply the models developed in the program, to be able to complete projects: breast cancer detection, respiratory disease detection, and vascular calcifications detection.
In order to achieve the goals of the human capacity development program, “Sadaya” established, through its academy, camps and short-term and long-term training programs with academic partnerships and global technical institutions, achieving a knowledge impact in reaching more than 617 thousand beneficiaries, male and female, from the sons and daughters of the nation, which had a It has had a significant impact on raising awareness of artificial intelligence in the Kingdom.
It also sought to provide qualitative initiatives that support awareness programs in the areas of: basic awareness, general awareness, specialized awareness, mandatory awareness, and participatory awareness, in cooperation with major technology companies in the world, and worked to support the dissemination of knowledge about generative artificial intelligence by reaching the universities of the Kingdom. It established knowledge forums that brought together university professors and students to increase knowledge of these technologies, and provided specialized programs in the field of data and artificial intelligence to train Saudi leaders in a number of government agencies.
With regard to the National Transformation Program, Sadaya worked to enable the open data system by maximizing the economic impact of open data in the Kingdom and providing valuable and reusable open data, which leads to enhancing the transparency of government sectors, and preparing the national framework for data maturity (Nadhia); To measure the maturity of data management in government agencies by measuring their commitment to controls, specifications, governance and protection of personal data, measuring the progress of their operations at the operational level, and developing the legislative environment for data to contribute to enhancing transparency in all government agencies through developing and enforcing policies and systems related to data classification and freedom of circulation. Information and raising the Kingdom’s rank in global indicators, and a data governance platform that aims to register the entities included in the scope of application of the personal data protection system; In order to raise the level of commitment of these parties to the provisions of the system.
In order to achieve the objectives of the financial sustainability program, “Sadaya” provided, through the Foresight platform to support decision-making, savings amounting to more than 51 billion riyals, and through the National Data Bank, which aims to enhance the data sharing process in the Kingdom, it was able to improve the quality of national data and contribute to building an existing digital economy. On data, in addition to what it does through its other projects: the “Buruq” platform, the “Bayan” store, the “Saudi Business Center” platform, and “Ghaya Accelerator.”
Within the framework of the National Industry Development and Logistics Services Programme, Sdaya, with the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, launched the Center of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence in Industry and Mining, which aims to adopt artificial intelligence technologies, address the challenges of the sector, and support the achievement of strategic objectives to contribute to making the Kingdom a leading industrial power and a global logistics center through data. And artificial intelligence.
It also announced, along with the Ministry of Energy, the launch of the Artificial Intelligence Center for Energy. To benefit from artificial intelligence in supporting the initiatives of this development sector, and to contribute to achieving the goals of the Saudi Green Initiative in reducing carbon emissions, and the Center of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence in the Environment, Water and Agriculture, in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture to innovate sustainability solutions and applications using artificial intelligence in the environment, water and agriculture, and the Center Joint research on artificial intelligence with King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.
As part of achieving the goals of the vision to make the Kingdom a leading international destination, SDAIA organized the World Summit on Artificial Intelligence in two versions, the second of which carried the slogan “Artificial Intelligence for the Good of Humanity,” which was held in Riyadh in the presence of more than 10,000 people and 200 speakers from 90 countries representing Policy makers in the field of artificial intelligence and heads of major technology companies in the world, and organized the first global forum for smart cities in Riyadh under the slogan (A Better Life), with the participation of 100 speakers representing 40 countries around the world, and organizing the Open Data Forum in Riyadh.
To enhance the knowledge society, Sdaya, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and the Mawhibah Foundation, launched the National Olympiad for Programming and Artificial Intelligence (Smarter), which is the largest technical project in the Kingdom, in which 260,000 middle and high school students participated.
