Our business section explains where Gulf firms can focus, and our GCC AI landscape guide sets out each country's plans. This page looks at one country in detail. It asks how many Saudi businesses actually use AI, what the official surveys measure, and what is still a plan.

Figures are quoted exactly as each source gives them, with the year they refer to. Where something is a target, a memorandum or a "will", we say so. Our glossary entry on announced vs operational explains why the difference matters.

The short answer

  • About one in three Saudi establishments used AI in 2025. The General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) puts the share at 33.1%, up from 27.6% in 2024. That is a rise of 20.0% on the year, or 5.5 percentage points.
  • Use is uneven across sectors. In 2025 it was highest in information and communications (61.1%), finance and insurance (52.9%) and education (51.0%), and lowest in "other services" (26.7%).
  • The official survey counts users, not depth of use. It tells you whether an establishment used AI technologies. The published tables do not split the figure by firm size or say which tools were used.
  • HUMAIN has launched products and announced bigger plans. Its HUMAIN Chat app launched in Saudi Arabia in August 2025. Its system for companies, HUMAIN ONE, was launched in October 2025, but its planned listing on AWS Marketplace has no date. Its large data-centre projects are announced, not yet measured.
  • The programmes we found are mostly about training and incubation. Examples include Monsha'at's AI Incubator, which graduated 33 companies in June 2026, a Monsha'at and SDAIA AI Week for small business owners in August 2026, and SDAIA's Samai initiative, which the Ministry of Education says trained more than one million citizens.

What the official survey measures

GASTAT runs an annual survey of ICT access and use by establishments. Its 2025 bulletin, reported on 14 June 2026, found that 33.1% of establishments used AI technologies, compared with 27.6% in 2024 (GASTAT 2025 bulletin; GASTAT 2024 bulletin; Arab News, 14 Jun 2026).

How the 2025 survey worked, according to GASTAT's methodology report (GASTAT methodology, 2025):

  • Sample: 47,804 establishments, drawn from the business register, across all 13 administrative regions.
  • Period covered: 1 January to 31 December 2025.
  • Who is included: establishments of every size, from micro (1 to 5 workers) to large (more than 250). All medium and large establishments were included in the sample.
  • How data was collected: telephone and in-person interviews.
  • Standard used: the bulletin says the survey follows the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) manual on digital economy statistics, in line with international practice.

By sector

Economic activity20242025
Information and communications52.8%61.1%
Finance and insurance44.7%52.9%
Education42.1%51.0%
Transport and storage38.3%44.4%
Professional activities39.2%43.9%
Mining and quarrying32.4%41.8%
Arts and entertainment29.9%36.3%
Human health and social work31.8%35.6%
Electricity and gas25.7%35.4%
Water supply and sewerage25.8%34.9%
Construction29.0%33.8%
Accommodation and food26.2%33.5%
Agriculture and fishing25.4%33.2%
Real estate28.2%31.8%
Manufacturing26.0%30.7%
Administrative and support services25.2%30.4%
Wholesale and retail trade25.0%30.2%
Other services20.1%26.7%
All establishments27.6%33.1%

Source: GASTAT bulletins and Table 16 of the 2025 data tables (2025 tables). Every sector rose between the two years.

What the figure does and doesn't tell you

The headline is a share of establishments that used AI technologies in their activities. It is a useful count, but it is not the whole picture.

  • It does not show how much AI each firm uses. A shop using one AI feature in its accounting software and a bank running AI across its operations both count once.
  • The published tables do not split AI use by firm size. GASTAT's 2025 tables break AI use down by economic activity only. So the survey does not yet tell a small business owner how their peers compare.
  • It sits next to wider digital use. In the same 2025 survey, 98.1% of establishments had an internet connection, 93.2% used government e-services and 51.3% used cloud computing (GASTAT 2025 bulletin; Asharq Al-Awsat, 14 Jun 2026). Most firms already have the basic connections that AI tools need.

The wider digital economy

GASTAT also measures the digital economy. On 31 December 2025 it reported that the digital economy made up 16.0% of Saudi GDP in 2024, up from 15.6% in 2023 (GASTAT, 31 Dec 2025).

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) gives figures for 2025 on its Vision 2030 achievements page. It says the digital economy contributed 16% of GDP in 2025, the ICT market reached USD 53 billion (SAR 199 billion), and the technology workforce reached 411,000 by the end of 2025 (MCIT). These figures describe the digital economy as a whole, not AI alone.

International surveys

Private surveys add detail, but they ask different questions of smaller groups. Read them as signals, not as national counts.

  • Cisco AI Readiness Index (published ahead of LEAP, March 2024). A survey of 8,161 business and IT leaders at private companies with 500 or more employees, across 30 markets. For Saudi Arabia, 93% of organisations had an AI strategy in place or in development, but only 8% considered themselves fully prepared to deploy AI. The release does not give the Saudi sample size (Zawya, Cisco release; Tahawul Tech, 1 Mar 2024).
  • SAP-commissioned YouGov survey (24 June 2026). Respondents were chief IT decision-makers in Saudi Arabia. Half said their AI initiatives were exceeding expectations and a further 41% said returns were meeting them. SAP's release does not give the sample size, and the answers are self-reported (SAP News, 24 Jun 2026).
  • Microsoft AI diffusion report (21 September 2026). This measures people, not firms: the share of people aged 15 to 64 who used a generative AI product. Microsoft says Saudi Arabia climbed from 30th to 25th place in the second quarter of 2026, the largest rise in its rankings (Microsoft, 21 Sep 2026).

HUMAIN: what has launched and what is planned

HUMAIN was announced on 12 May 2025 by the Crown Prince as a new company owned by the Public Investment Fund. It was set up to offer AI models, including an Arabic large language model, as well as data centres and cloud infrastructure (Argaam, 12 May 2025; Gulf Business, 13 May 2025).

Launched:

  • HUMAIN Chat. An Arabic conversational app launched on 26 August 2025, built on the ALLaM 34B model. At launch it was available only in Saudi Arabia, with wider regional access planned (Fast Company Middle East, 26 Aug 2025; Mubasher, 26 Aug 2025). It is an app for individuals rather than a business tool.
  • HUMAIN ONE. An "agentic" operating system for companies, launched at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh in October 2025. It is meant to handle office tasks such as HR, finance and procurement through a single interface where staff type or say what they need (Mubasher, 27 Oct 2025; Campaign Middle East, 28 Oct 2025).

Announced, not yet in place:

  • HUMAIN ONE on AWS. On 4 May 2026 HUMAIN said HUMAIN ONE "will also be available on AWS Marketplace globally". The release gives no date and refers to the "upcoming launch" of an AWS Region in Saudi Arabia (HUMAIN release, 4 May 2026).
  • A joint venture with AMD and Cisco. Announced on 19 November 2025, it plans to deploy up to 1 GW of AI infrastructure by 2030. A first phase of 100 MW is planned, with operations expected to begin in 2026 (Cisco, 19 Nov 2025). We track this as CR-C08.
  • A data-centre venture with stc. stc's subsidiary center3 signed a memorandum of understanding with HUMAIN on 18 December 2025 to form a joint venture, 51% HUMAIN and 49% stc. It aims at up to 1 gigawatt, starting with up to 250 megawatts, subject to contracts with customers (Argaam, 18 Dec 2025). On 18 June 2026 the two extended the memorandum by six months to finish regulatory and operational work (Arab News, 18 Jun 2026).
  • Aramco's planned stake. Aramco's 2025 results said plans were progressing for it to acquire a significant minority interest in HUMAIN (Aramco, 10 Mar 2026).

Company examples

The dated examples we found all come from large firms. They come from the companies or from reports of their own statements.

  • Aramco (energy). Aramco reported "Technology Realized Value" of USD 5.3 billion in 2025 from "AI, digital, and other solutions", bringing the total since 2023 to USD 11.3 billion (Aramco, 10 Mar 2026). This is the company's own measure, and the release does not say how much came from AI alone.
  • Riyad Bank (banking). In July 2024 the bank launched its Center of Intelligence, which it describes as the first AI-focused centre in the Saudi banking sector. It uses analytics and AI to improve operational efficiency (Riyad Bank Annual Report 2024; Arab News, 24 Jul 2024).
  • Al Rajhi Bank (banking). In November 2025 the bank signed a multi-year agreement with ServiceNow and the Saudi firm ejada Systems to use the ServiceNow AI Platform across HR, IT and financial services. The announcement describes plans, not results (Zawya, ServiceNow release; Intelligent CIO, 10 Nov 2025).

For sectors where this guide cites no dated company example, the GASTAT table is the better guide. In 2025, 44.4% of transport and storage establishments used AI, as did 35.6% in health and social work and 30.2% in wholesale and retail trade.

Programmes for businesses and workers

For small and medium businesses (Monsha'at):

  • AI Incubator. Monsha'at graduated the first cohort of 33 AI companies on 23 June 2026. The programme ran in partnership with the National Technology Development Program and offered mentoring, training and incubation support (Ajel, 23 Jun 2026; Mubasher, 23 Jun 2026).
  • AI Week. In August 2026 Monsha'at and SDAIA ran an AI Week for entrepreneurs and small business owners, with 40 government, private, academic and technical bodies taking part. It was part of Monsha'at's Business Weeks series (Al-Madina, 6 Aug 2026; Al Eqtisadiah, 10 Aug 2026).

For workers and skills (SDAIA, MCIT and partners):

  • Samai. At a ceremony on 9 November 2025, the Ministry of Education said more than one million citizens had been trained in AI through the Samai initiative, which SDAIA started with help from the education and human resources ministries. Of those trained, 52% were women, and 70% were employed and 30% students (Ministry of Education, 9 Nov 2025).
  • Mostaqbali. On 16 April 2025 MCIT, Oracle and the National eLearning Center announced a programme that aims to train 50,000 Saudis in AI and digital skills. This is a target (MCIT, 16 Apr 2025).
  • AI Center of Excellence. Launched at LEAP 2026 by the human resources ministry's Digital Sector Skills Council, MCIT, Microsoft and Gulf Intelligence, to speed up AI adoption among workers. The announcement gives no numerical targets (HRSD, 1 Sep 2026).

All of this sits inside a wider push. On 10 March 2026 the Cabinet approved naming 2026 the Year of Artificial Intelligence (Riyadh Daily, SPA; Mubasher, 11 Mar 2026).

Announced vs measured

Announced (targets, plans, memorandums)Measured or reported as done
National Strategy for Data and AI (October 2020): top 15 in AI by 2030, 20,000 data and AI specialists, 300 start-ups, SAR 75 billion (reported as more than USD 20 billion) of investment. Tracked as CR-G04GASTAT: 33.1% of establishments used AI in 2025, 27.6% in 2024
HUMAIN, AMD and Cisco: up to 1 GW of AI infrastructure by 2030 (CR-C08)GASTAT: AI use rose in all 18 sectors between 2024 and 2025
stc and HUMAIN: up to 1 GW, starting at up to 250 MW, still a memorandumGASTAT: digital economy 16.0% of GDP in 2024
HUMAIN ONE on AWS Marketplace: "will" be available, no dateHUMAIN Chat launched in Saudi Arabia in August 2025
Mostaqbali: aims to train 50,000 SaudisSamai: more than one million citizens trained (Ministry of Education, November 2025)
Aramco: plans to take a significant minority stake in HUMAINMonsha'at: 33 companies graduated from the AI Incubator (June 2026)

Strategy targets: Argaam, 21 Oct 2020; Arab News, 21 Oct 2020; Saudipedia.

Two cautions apply to the "measured or reported as done" column. Company figures such as Aramco's are the company's own measures. Training counts tell you how many people took part, not how many now use AI at work.

What this means for a small business

The national figure is a useful benchmark. If you run a small firm and do not use AI yet, you are in the majority: 66.9% of establishments did not report using it in 2025. There is time to start carefully. Our readiness checklist and digitisation roadmap suggest where to begin, and How will AI affect my small business? answers the common worries. The sector opportunity maps show where AI is proving useful in Gulf industries.

What to watch

  • GASTAT's 2026 results. The survey is annual, so the next bulletin should show whether the rise continues. A split by firm size would help small businesses most.
  • HUMAIN ONE on AWS. Whether it appears on AWS Marketplace, and when the AWS Region in Saudi Arabia opens.
  • The stc and HUMAIN venture. The memorandum was extended by six months on 18 June 2026. Watch for a signed joint venture or a further extension.
  • The AMD, Cisco and HUMAIN venture. Operations are expected to begin in 2026, starting with 100 MW.
  • Year of AI results. Programme numbers that count outcomes, such as firms that adopted a tool, would be more useful than attendance figures.

Sources

Primary sources

Secondary sources