LONDON: Artificial intelligence will dominate the global investment conversation for the foreseeable future, the governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund predicted.
Speaking on the opening day of the Future Investment Initiative Priority forum in Miami on Thursday, Yasir Al-Rumayyan said the focus should be on harnessing the benefits AI can offer the global economy, including its potentially game-changing effects on global gross domestic product.
“I think AI is coming, it’s going to come in a big way, and I think the impact will be very positive once we have the right set of regulations that will monitor, control and enable the AI ecosystem,” he said.
Saudi Arabia is on course to become a world leader in AI, in terms of innovation and development, he added.
“We are very well positioned to become an AI hub outside of the US for many reasons,” said Al-Rumayyan.
“Number one … nobody talks about energy; AI (development) will consume a lot of energy. We are the global leaders when it comes to fossil-fuel energy and when it comes to renewable energy. But we also have the political will and we have the funds needed for deployment in this initiative.”
As boss of Public Investment Fund, the main economic engine for Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 reforms agenda, Al-Rumayyan also updated delegates on the progress of the economic reforms in the Kingdom.
“The difference between (Saudi Vision 2030) and the visions presented by other countries is we are achieving a lot of the KPIs (key performance indicators) ahead of schedule,” he said.
“One of the numbers I really like to reference is the women in the workplace in the Kingdom; our target was 20 percent by 2030, we achieved 30-plus percent by the year 2020.”
Al-Rumayyan also confirmed that the FII is launching two new forums, in Brazil and the Kenyan capital Nairobi. The potential for investment in Latin America and Africa is huge, he said, but not enough focus was being placed on it.
The Brazil forum will focus on the issues of deforestation and the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies, which are vital to the development of South America, Al-Rumayyan said. In Nairobi, the discussions will center around the massive opportunities offered by Africa’s expected population growth over the next decade.
