• The Line is the flagship development in Saudi Arabia’s NEOM megacity project

Jana Salloum/Waffa Wael/Nirmal Narayanan

RIYADH: The Line, the flagship development in Saudi Arabia’s $500-billion mega-city project NEOM, will make use of artificial intelligence technology to the fullest, according to its CEO, Nadhmi Al Nasr.

While talking at the Global AI Summit on Sept. 13 in Riyadh, Al Nasr noted that the strategic works and the planning phase of NEOM were successful, and execution is progressing steadily.

“After finishing the strategies, we moved to the planning year. Converting strategy to planning was not an easy job. That was during the end of 2021. In 2022, we call it the execution mission. Now, we have the strategy, the plan and we have the talents and leadership to execute,” said Al-Nasr.

Al-Nasr noted that construction at NEOM started nine months ago.

He said: “Three to four weeks ago, we announced The Line. It is a future world that will go live fully on artificial intelligence.”

He said that over 10 million people will be accommodated in NEOM, and everything that happens within the city will be monitored and enabled by AI technologies.

He pointed out that NEOM aims to bring a revolution in urban design planning and livability.

Al-Nasr added that people from 78 different nationalities are currently living in NEOM. “Today, we have 78 nationalities living in NEOM, with their families and kids. You do not see them because they are busy there,” he said.

He further noted that NEOM will bring together the best talents globally and regionally, as it pursues its AI ambitions.