A recent analytical study issued at the beginning of 2026 confirmed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's leadership in the regional and international technological scene with regard to linguistic artificial intelligence, as the Kingdom topped the list of countries developing Arabic language models for 2025. These results come as a culmination of the tireless efforts made by the concerned authorities to enhance the digital sovereignty of the Arabic language in the age of artificial intelligence.
The context of technological development: from rules to generation
This achievement was not a sudden occurrence, but rather the culmination of a long journey of technological development. A study conducted by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) in collaboration with the King Salman Global Academy for the Arabic Language reviewed the historical transformations in the automated processing of the Arabic language. This journey began with systems based on strict rules prior to 2000, progressed through statistical models and neural networks, and culminated in the current revolution represented by Large Language Models (LLMs) and their generative applications, which witnessed a tremendous surge between 2022 and 2025.
This shift is of paramount strategic importance, as linguistic models are the basic infrastructure for enabling the Arabic language in digital spaces, and ensuring that it does not fall behind the global trend in light of the dominance of Latin languages in internet content and artificial intelligence technologies.
Numbers and facts from the current scene
The study revealed a promising digital landscape, with over 53 Arabic language models registered by the first quarter of 2025. While the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia led the developed countries, efforts from other Arab nations, such as the UAE, also stood out, along with interest from international organizations in developing models to support Arabic. However, the analysis also uncovered technical challenges, most notably:
- Text dominance: 81% of current models are monolithic models that deal only with text.
- Weak multimedia: The percentage of multimedia models (which support audio and video) reached only 7%, indicating an investment gap in this vital aspect of the future.
Performance and benchmarking
Regarding the effectiveness of these models, the study relied on the "Balasam" standard issued by the King Salman Global Academy for the Arabic Language. The results showed a disparity in performance; while the international models continued to excel in cognitive, inferential, and programming abilities, the Arabic models demonstrated promising strengths, slightly outperforming in summarization skills and delivering competitive performance in creative writing and reading comprehension.
Strategic impact and future of the Arabic language
The importance of this study extends beyond the technical aspect to encompass economic and cultural dimensions. Possessing robust Arabic language models means strengthening the digital economy and enabling public and private institutions to adopt AI solutions that accurately understand the local context and diverse dialects, thereby improving service quality and stimulating innovation.
In conclusion, the study laid out a roadmap for the future that focuses on the need to provide large and high-quality Arabic data, bridge the gap in multimedia models, and build specialized benchmarks, to ensure that the Kingdom is a leading regional center not only in consuming technology, but also in producing and exporting it in a way that serves the Arab identity.
