NEWS YOU CAN’T MISS

Saudi Arabia’s New Fuel Export: AI

For decades, Saudi Arabia’s influence came from exporting oil. Now, as Adam Satariano and Paul Mozur note in The New York Times, the kingdom wants to export the fuel that powers AI: computing capacity.

AI demands enormous electricity, land, and infrastructure — and Saudi Arabia believes it has what tech companies want: cheap energy, vast space, and the ability to build fast.

What’s underway:

• A $5B Red Sea AI hub to serve Europe, Asia, and Africa

• Huge new data centers that officials say could be 30% cheaper than U.S. sites

• “Data embassy” zones where foreign companies operate under their own national laws

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is steering the push. He’s launched a new state-backed AI firm, Humain, aiming to handle 6% of the world’s AI computing workload.

Humain sits under the kingdom’s trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund, has hired top AI talent, and is buying thousands of chips from Nvidia, AMD, and Qualcomm.

And global tech giants are paying attention. Executives from OpenAI, Google, Qualcomm, Intel, Oracle, and others are now frequent visitors to Riyadh — with deals reportedly “way, way bigger” than anything announced so far.

Are You an “AI Vegan”?

A growing group of young people are calling themselves “AI vegans” because they refuse to use generative AI tools altogether.

Why? For some, it’s about fairness - like Bella, a 21-year-old artist who quit AI after her gaming contest allowed AI-generated art.

Others are ditching AI for ethical reasons: it uses loads of water and electricity, scrapes artists’ work without consent, and sometimes leaves users feeling mentally “checked out.”

But going AI-free is harder than it sounds. Schools use it. Internships push it. Even families rely on it. Some “AI vegans” say they feel like the only person at the dinner table refusing dessert. What do you think?

AI Around the World

In Africa, China’s DeepSeek is rapidly gaining ground over US models, offering AI tools that are far cheaper to run and better suited to limited computing resources. Startups in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa are adopting it because its open-source design also lets them tailor models to local languages and needs.

In Japan, the government plans to spend $1.6B in extra budget to accelerate AI development and strengthen its semiconductor sector - building on earlier multibillion-dollar investments. The package also sets aside funding to bolster help companies secure rare-earth minerals as the country works to reduce dependence on China.

In Australia, regulators have blocked access to several “nudify” sites that used AI to generate sexual images of children - the sites drew 100,000 monthly visits. The platforms have withdrawn after receiving a formal warning that threatened million-dollar penalties.