SDAIA Discusses AI Governance Enhancement with UNESCO in Geneva

2026-07-06T16:23:33.293Z

The President of the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (SDAIA), Dr. Abdullah Al-Ghamdi, met with the Director-General of UNESCO, Dr. Khaled El-Enany, in Geneva on the sidelines of the Global Summit on AI for the Common Good to discuss cooperation in AI governance and ethics, the role of the ICAIRE Center in Riyadh, national principles, and the tags and...

Today, the President of the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (SDAIA), Dr. Abdullah bin Sharaf Al-Ghamdi, met with the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Dr. Khaled El-Enany, during Saudi Arabia’s participation in the Global Dialogue on AI Governance, held on the sidelines of the Global Summit on AI for the Common Good, which is hosted by Geneva from July 6 to 7, 2026.

The meeting covered aspects of strategic cooperation between the Kingdom and UNESCO in AI fields, ways to strengthen the international partnership to formulate ethical policies regulating these advanced technologies, while appreciating the international efforts made by the organization in this regard.

Dr. Al-Ghamdi reviewed the pivotal role the Kingdom plays in supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, highlighting the Kingdom’s efforts in establishing the International Centre for AI Research and Ethics (ICAIRE) headquartered in Riyadh, which was approved by the UNESCO General Conference as a Category 2 international centre under its auspices, to serve as a global beacon contributing to supporting research and development, spreading awareness of ethics, and building international capacities.

The President of SDAIA also reviewed the Kingdom’s efforts in transforming international principles into tangible reality through a number of initiatives, most notably: launching the National Principles for AI Ethics, granting ethics tags to more than 60 companies in the Kingdom, and launching the National AI Index to measure the maturity level of adoption of these technologies in government entities, ensuring responsible governance that supports human innovation.