Saudi Arabia kicks off investment conference

RIYADH - The Governor of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund opened the kingdom's flagship investment conference on Tuesday by warning that technological advances were spreading fear over entrenched inequality, with many worried about the impact of artificial intelligence.

"Three in four people worry that AI will widen the education gap between societies who have access, and those that don't," Yasir Al-Rumayyan said.

"We can't allow that to happen." While a majority of people felt positive about their lives, far fewer were optimistic about the world, he said.

"This gap between personal hope and global doubt is a warning," he said, adding that "technology can help bridge this gap, but only if it works for all."

Al-Rumayyan made the remarks as he opened the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh, ahead of which the kingdom had underscored its own efforts to build an AI-driven economy.

The conference is taking place against a backdrop of a fragile US-brokered Gaza ceasefire, simmering regional tensions and a kingdom that is facing growing pressure to demonstrate progress towards its massive economic transformation.

Al-Rumayyan said $250 billion of deals had been made over the last eight editions of the conference, adding that foreign investment into the kingdom had grown 24% in 2024 to $31.7 billion.