RIYADH — The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) and Philips have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), with the aim of promoting the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the health care system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in line with the healthcare goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030.

In a statement on this occasion, the Minister of Health, Dr. Tawfiq Bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah expressed his happiness with the signing of this agreement, which will expand the provision of AI services in the health field in an effort to improve the service of citizens and expatriates in various medical fields, in a way that will directly contribute to achieving the Kingdom's Vision 2030 goals.

He pointed out that the Ministry of Health is working with SDAIA to benefit from AI technologies and to support joint local and global efforts to form a knowledge system that combines AI with health and operational expertise in order to develop integrated solutions that contribute to improving the performance and productivity of health care systems and improving the level of national competencies working in this field by adopting AI technologies.

For his part, SDAIA President Dr. Abdullah Bin Sharaf Al-Ghamdi affirmed that the Kingdom is witnessing today, under the umbrella of its Vision 2030, a developmental renaissance in all fields, at the forefront of which are technical fields. He added that SDAIA seek, within the National Strategy for Data and Artificial Intelligence (NSDAI), to make the most of data and AI by supporting its applications in all relevant sectors.

He stated that this agreement comes as part of SDAIA's efforts to promote advanced technologies in the health sector, support the exchange of experiences, and develop national capabilities that would improve the quality of services provided in the health sector, create new job opportunities, and improve the national economy to be among the AI and data-driven economies.

For his part, the National Center for Artificial Intelligence Superviser Dr. Majid Bin Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri, pointed out that the cooperation plan between SDAIA and Philips will focus on five main areas.

They include, employing the capabilities of AI in the health care sector, establishing a knowledge center for AI aimed at improving the level of national skills and expertise in the field of developing AI applications, giving priority to the application of health technology solutions that employ AI in health work paths, access to a network that includes senior opinion leaders and specialists in the field to facilitate the exchange of information and joint research, and support ways to adopt new AI applications, in addition to contributing to creating new job opportunities related to AI in the field of health care services. — SPA