The national programming and artificial intelligence Olympiad, “Smartest,” has set a record by registering more than 260 thousand Saudi male and female students in the intermediate and secondary stages, representing over 10 thousand schools in the Kingdom.
Consequently, this Olympiad is the largest in the country, achieving such a massive number, which is a clear indicator of the increased awareness of Saudi youth towards programming and artificial intelligence technologies.
The significant response to “Smartest” confirms the successful fruitful efforts made by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority “SDAIA” in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the King Abdulaziz Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity “Mawhiba” to support the Olympiad, which SDAIA presented as a national initiative to build a generation capable of dealing with programming and artificial intelligence and achieving the goals of Vision 2030 in developing human capabilities.
This number reflects the increase in the level of awareness in Saudi society towards the use of data and artificial intelligence technologies. The Kingdom ranked second globally in AI awareness in April 2023, according to a survey showing an increase in the confidence of Saudi citizens in dealing with AI products and services in the Kingdom, as per the Stanford University AI Index report.
Since its establishment in 2019, SDAIA has taken full responsibility for raising awareness in the fields of data and artificial intelligence, serving as a national model in these areas. Additionally, SDAIA has enhanced human capabilities in this field, thanks to the support and guidance from His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Prime Minister, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Authority. These efforts aim to achieve global leadership for the Kingdom in the fields of data and artificial intelligence.
To encourage registration in the Intelligence Olympiad, an event titled “Our Path to Intelligence” was organized with the participation of more than 10 thousand male and female students. The Artificial Hour initiative was held, which is a specialized training program for students on artificial intelligence concepts, benefiting 575 thousand students and involving 9700 teachers.
“Smartest” is an initiative exclusively sponsored by the Saudi company “Control” for technical control and comprehensive security Limited, aiming to develop human capital in the field of data and artificial intelligence. SDAIA has implemented numerous national projects and programs aimed at building the capabilities of youth at an early stage to achieve high efficiency and competitiveness on a global level.
