Riyadh, December 15, 2024—Saudi Arabia emerged as the undisputed champion at the 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Competition for Youth (WAICY), securing first place among 129 participating countries and over 18,000 students from diverse educational backgrounds. The kingdom's outstanding performance is marked by a brilliant achievement of 22 medals, including gold, silver, and bronze, as well as several special awards, surpassing global giants such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Greece, Canada, and Singapore. This achievement is a testament to Saudi Arabia's efforts in advancing the fields of data science and artificial intelligence (AI), while also reflecting its commitment to nurturing the next generation of AI experts.
A total of 1,298 Saudi students participated in the competition, showcasing 662 innovative projects across various fields. Their exceptional creativity and technical skills have earned the kingdom the most awards, highlighting the nation's emerging leadership in AI education. These results also reflect the strategic efforts of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), which, as part of a broader national initiative, advocates for this competition to cultivate the expertise of young Saudis in artificial intelligence. SDAIA focuses on empowering students to use artificial intelligence technology to solve real-world challenges, which aligns with the kingdom's vision of cultivating talent in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. (STEM).
In the final medal tally, Saudi Arabia led with 22 medals, followed by the United States with 20 medals. Other countries, such as India and Greece, each won 5 medals, while Canada won 4 and the Philippines won 3. It is worth noting that the UAE, Oman, Australia, Ukraine, and the UK each won at least one medal. The participating Saudi students, ranging from elementary to high school levels, competed in four events: AI demonstrations, AI-generated art, AI large language models, and AI-generated videos. These diverse competitions provide students with a platform to showcase their proficiency in cutting-edge AI applications.
This outstanding performance at WAICY reflects the kingdom's growing expertise and global standing in the field of artificial intelligence. This is also consistent with the latest findings of the 2023 Stanford AI Index report, which ranks Saudi Arabia second globally in terms of societal awareness of artificial intelligence. The report highlights the strong trust and confidence of Saudi citizens in using AI products and services, further solidifying the kingdom's commitment to becoming a leading player in the global AI field.