Saudi Arabia’s AI Ambition, and What It Means for the United States

People must see themselves in the AI revolution

President Donald Trump’s historic visit to Saudi Arabia was not merely another high-profile diplomatic stop. It was a signal, one that reverberates far beyond ceremonial pageantry or economic accords. With a sweeping agenda anchored in regional security and technological advancement, the visit marked a profound turning point: the introduction of artificial intelligence as a

Saudi Arabia’s AI ambition, and what it means for the United States

A day before Air Force One touched down in Riyadh to kick off US President Donald Trump’s three-country tour of the Gulf, Saudi Arabia made a pivotal announcement. The kingdom, long synonymous with oil, revealed a major investment in artificial intelligence (AI) through its newly launched company, HumAIn. This pivot, explicitly timed to coincide with Trump’s visit starting on May 13, and in anticipation of the signing of multiple tech deals betw…

What Comes Next After Trump’s AI Deals in the Gulf

On May 12, the Trump administration announced plans to rescind the AI diffusion rule, a sweeping global framework that sought to govern the export of AI chips and model weights worldwide. The rule, published in the last weeks of the previous administration, was abandoned just days before its implementation deadline. The administration followed this decision with a series of major chip export deals during President Donald Trump’s Gulf tour of Sau…

Scenes of Sports Diplomacy in Trump’s Gulf Tour

The visit of the President of the United States to the Gulf region in mid-May was not traditional; Trump is an exceptional figure, and the version of his second term differs greatly from the first, as he does not care much for diplomatic norms and their boundaries. How could he commit to them if even geographic boundaries do not constrain his economic and investment visions? Talking about annexing Canada to the United States reveals much about h…

Doctor’s orders: The Tipline for 4 June 2025

The Trump Administration has prescribed a far more targeted approach to merger enforcement than its predecessor. Deputy assistant attorney general Bill Rinner said the Department of Justice’s antitrust division had abandoned the “shadow decree” docket and a primary goal of deterrence. “Vigor means that we are using a scalpel wherever surgery is needed, not thrashing at every transaction we can bring under the knife,” Rinner said at an event on W…