Saudi Arabia advances AI and youth leadership initiatives

Saudi Arabia is advancing its technological and human capital ambitions through new international partnerships and hardware developments. The Mohammed bin Salman Foundation (Misk) and the UN Youth Office have established the Global Youth Network. Unveiled at the AFS Youth Assembly in Geneva, the network aims to connect independent youth-focused organizations globally and provide leadership pathways for young people to influence international policy. The initiative is scheduled for an official launch during the UN General Assembly in September 2026.

In the hardware sector, HUMAIN, an AI company majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), has unveiled the Horizon Pro. This AI-native laptop utilizes Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite processor to enable on-device AI processing. The device features an agentic interface designed around conversational AI agents rather than traditional menus. Notably, the laptop supports HUMAIN’s ALLaM large language models, which are specifically optimized for Arabic language processing to serve the global Arabic-speaking population.