SDAIA tracks AI’s shift to daily routine: specialized firms grow 174% and half of users rely on human review

Recent data released by the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) on the state of artificial intelligence reveal a qualitative shift in the relationship between the local community and the institutional sector with generative technologies, as the market has moved beyond the exploratory curiosity phase into daily operational adoption. Figures based on a survey conducted at the end of 2025 show that 84 % of individuals now understand what artificial intelligence is, while 74 % say they grasp its applications in real life. More important than general awareness is the frequency of actual use; the report notes that 51 % of respondents use generative AI tools, chiefly ChatGPT and Gemini, on a daily or near-daily basis, whereas 21 % rely on them at least once a week.

This usage pattern reflects the transformation of automated generation tools into a pillar for managing cognitive tasks, with learning and information search leading the usage categories at 47 %, followed by completing work tasks and academic requirements at 25 %.What stands out in the results is not only the intensity of uptake but also the entrenched human-review behavior that prevents blind delivery of model outputs.The report showed that 58 % of respondents examine and revise outputs before final approval, reinforcing the principle of human oversight in work and education environments. This cautious behavior aligns with broader awareness of regulatory frameworks, as 63 % of individuals reported being familiar with, or having heard of, the national principles and guidelines for responsible AI use issued by SDAIA.

Economically, these societal indicators translated into a noticeable expansion on both the demand side and corporate spending. Spending on AI and emerging technologies recorded a 20 % increase in 2025 compared with 2024, indicating continued investment flow into digital transformation projects. The larger shift appeared on the supply side, where the number of companies offering or developing AI technology services jumped 174 % in 2025 relative to 2023, pointing to an accelerating build-out of a local solutions base that is beginning to compete for corporate project shares.

This momentum is a direct result of a technological trajectory that has spanned decades, from the first proposals for artificial neural networks in the 1940s and Alan Turing’s questions in the 1950s, through historic periods of stagnation. The current wave is driven by two decisive factors: first, a surge in computing power that makes today’s smartphone about 3.5 million times more capable than the guidance computer used for the 1969 Apollo lunar missions, backed by massive data centers and super-computers; second, an explosion in the volume of publicly available digital data, which has been roughly doubling every two years according to studies by SynTech based on IBM data, shifting the technology from the constraints of rule-based programming to pattern learning from big data.

These figures impose a new practical reality on technology leaders and developers in the Gulf, Egypt and the Levant. The 174 % rise in AI-service providers gives tech officers locally and regionally customizable alternatives and reduces the need to rely exclusively on ready-made foreign systems. At the same time, the 58 % human-review rate means that any tool or API released by tech teams must incorporate smooth review pathways, rather than assuming full automation that an informed user would reject. For software firms in Egypt and the Levant that export services to Gulf markets, the chance to compete for growing spend contracts now hinges on mastering governance standards and complying with responsible-use guidelines, making a system’s audit capability and data-accuracy assurance the primary evaluation criterion before generation speed.