AI, Oil, and Power: Why Jürgen Schmidhuber is Betting on Saudi Arabia

AI is the new oil, and Saudi Arabia is determined not to miss this boom. While the West debates ethics and China refines existing models, Saudi Arabia is pouring trillions into AI research, aiming to leapfrog traditional tech powers.

Jürgen Schmidhuber, one of AI’s pioneers, sees this as the start of a new golden age for science, but is this the future of innovation, or just another geopolitical chess move?

Schmidhuber, the mind behind long short-term memory (LSTM) networks, is leading Saudi Arabia’s AI ambitions at KAUST. His work spans healthcare, chemistry, and robotics, backed by the Kingdom’s massive Vision 2030 investment.

Unlike many AI leaders, he dismisses doomsday fears, arguing that AGI is still far off. Instead, he believes AI should be open-source and available to all. A stance that raises questions about Saudi Arabia’s role in global AI leadership.

• Saudi AI funding could accelerate breakthroughs, but raises questions of control.
• Open-source AI could democratize innovation, or shift power away from the West.
• Ethical concerns remain unresolved as AI research increasingly moves east.

As AI reshapes global power, should we embrace Saudi Arabia’s AI-for-all vision, or question the politics behind it? How do we ensure ethical innovation without stifling progress?

Read the full article on Rest of World.

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