---
title: "Saudi Arabia becomes first Arab country to join the Global Partnership on AI"
url: "https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/saudi-joins-gpai-2026"
language: "en"
event_date: "2026-02-22"
published: "2026-10-03"
last_verified: "2026-10-03"
category: "Policy"
publisher: "Cicada (cicadaconsultancy.online)"
license: "CC BY 4.0"
---

# Saudi Arabia becomes first Arab country to join the Global Partnership on AI

- Event date: 22 February 2026 (2026-02-22)
- Topic: Policy
- In this story: SDAIA, GPAI, OECD, India AI Impact Summit
- URL: https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/saudi-joins-gpai-2026

Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) President Abdullah Alghamdi announced at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 that Saudi Arabia had become the first Arab member of the OECD-hosted Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, which has about 46 members. He said the Kingdom ranks third globally in contributions to the OECD AI Observatory with more than 60 AI policies, and he cited the Riyadh Charter on AI for the Islamic World, adopted by 53 Islamic nations. The accession was reported on 22 February 2026.

## Key figures

- policies contributed to OECD AI Observatory: 60
- GPAI members: 46

## Sources

1. [Saudi Arabia becomes first Arab country to join GPAI](https://www.sharikatmubasher.com/media-hub/news/21535416/Saudi-Arabia-becomes-first-Arab-country-to-join-GPAI?lang=ar) — Sharikat Mubasher, 2026-02-22
2. [Saudi Arabia Steps Into Global AI Leadership to Shape AI Future](https://meatechwatch.com/2026/02/24/saudi-arabia-steps-into-global-ai-leadership-to-shape-ai-future/) — MEA Tech Watch, 2026-02-24

Archive report. Written in 2026 from contemporary sources and dated to the day the event happened.

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Cicada · The signal in Saudi AI.
License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) · Full archive for language models: https://cicadaconsultancy.online/llms-full.txt