Saudi Arabia has set one of the most ambitious human-capital targets in the world: to make artificial intelligence a national competency rather than a specialist niche. As a technology consultant to the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), I work at the centre of that effort — building the national platforms, credentials and programmes that turn a policy ambition into measurable capability. This is what national AI capability building in Saudi Arabia looks like in practice.
From awareness to national capability
Capability building at national scale is a strategy problem before it is a technology problem. A country cannot upskill a population one training course at a time; it needs platforms that can register, train, assess and certify learners by the hundred thousand, and it needs credentials that employers actually trust.
That is the logic behind SAMAI — the “1 Million Saudis in AI” initiative, one of the most ambitious national AI-literacy programmes anywhere. As technical head for the platform, I oversaw the infrastructure that lets a nationwide programme operate at population scale, later extending it through SAMAI 2.0 into eleven government sectors. Coverage of the milestone appears in Arab News and the Saudi Press Agency.
National platforms, not one-off courses
The second pillar is AthkaX, SDAIA Academy’s national learning and training management platform. Being a national AI platform leader means owning the whole technical arc — enrolment, learning pathways, assessment and certification — and aligning it with national standards alongside the Kingdom’s enterprise-architecture and cybersecurity authorities. A platform that carries a national credential has to be dependable in a way that a marketing microsite never does.
Credentials that mean something
Skills only count when they are recognised. I led the national AI digital badges framework, which recognises three distinct kinds of talent along two very different evaluation paths:
- AI Practitioner badges — the AI Engineer and Data Scientist roles, each with its own domain, competency framework and examination.
- AI Researcher badges — awarded not by exam but on a portfolio of research output, professional recognition, innovation and community service.
Keeping the two paths separate matters: an applied engineer and a research scientist demonstrate competence in fundamentally different ways, and a national framework has to respect that. SDAIA’s launch of the professional badges was reported by Arab News.
Why this is a digital-transformation problem
AI workforce development sits inside a larger digital transformation agenda. Vision 2030 treats human capability as national infrastructure — as important as data centres or connectivity. Bootcamps in data engineering, partnerships with Microsoft, IBM and NVIDIA, and academic frameworks that map AI roles to formal occupations are all part of the same system: a pipeline that takes a citizen from first exposure to a recognised, employable credential.
What I have learned building at national scale
Three lessons recur. First, standards come before software — define the competency and the evaluation, then build the platform to serve it. Second, one methodology beats many; a single content-development standard used across programmes produces consistent quality far more reliably than letting every team invent its own. Third, recognition is the flywheel — the moment a badge is trusted by employers, learners pursue it on their own, and the programme scales itself.
Frequently asked questions
What is AI capability building?
AI capability building is the national-scale development of AI skills across a population — through awareness programmes, learning platforms, bootcamps and recognised credentials — so that a country can staff its own AI economy rather than importing every skill.
What is the SAMAI initiative?
SAMAI (“1 Million Saudis in AI”) is a national SDAIA initiative to equip one million Saudis with practical AI skills, later extended through SAMAI 2.0 into government sectors.
Who leads national AI platform development in Saudi Arabia?
National platforms such as AthkaX and SAMAI are delivered under SDAIA, the Kingdom’s Data and AI Authority. My role has been the technical leadership of these platforms and the national credential frameworks behind them.
Dr Faizan Ur Rehman is a technology consultant to SDAIA’s Academy & Capacity Building Sector and the technical lead behind several of Saudi Arabia’s national AI platforms. Explore the AI Capability Building work, the press coverage, or the full experience.