{"slug": "saudi-arabia-ai-law-policy-updates", "title": "Saudi Arabia — AI Law & Policy Updates", "summary": "Saudi Arabia's Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL), enacted by Royal Decree M/19 of 2021 and amended in 2023, became fully enforceable on 14 September 2024, carrying fines up to SAR 5 million plus criminal liability for misuse of sensitive data. AI governance is led by the Saudi Data & Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) through non-binding AI Ethics Principles (2023) and Generative AI Guidelines (2024), aligned with the National Strategy for Data & AI and Vision 2030.", "body_md": "Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) — Royal Decree M/19 of 2021, amended 2023 · SDAIA AI Ethics Principles (2023) · SDAIA Generative AI Guidelines (2024) · National Strategy for Data & AI (NSDAI) / Vision 2030 — **Status: PDPL in force; AI governed by SDAIA principles**\n\nSaudi Arabia governs AI through its data authority, SDAIA (the Saudi Data & Artificial Intelligence Authority), rather than a dedicated AI Act. The binding instrument is the Personal Data Protection Law (Royal Decree M/19 of 2021, amended 2023), which became fully enforceable on 14 September 2024 and carries fines up to SAR 5 million plus criminal liability for misuse of sensitive data. On top of it, SDAIA has issued non-binding AI Ethics Principles (2023) and Generative AI Guidelines (2024) covering fairness, transparency, accountability and human oversight, all aligned with the National Strategy for Data & AI and Vision 2030's goal of becoming a top-tier AI economy. Companies deploying AI must comply with the PDPL and are expected to follow SDAIA's guidelines.\n\n**Recent developments:**", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/saudi-arabia-ai-law-policy-updates", "canonical_source": "https://ai-law-tracker.com/global/saudi-arabia", "published_at": "2026-07-17 00:00:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-23 10:42:39.063729+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy"], "entities": ["Saudi Data & Artificial Intelligence Authority", "SDAIA", "Personal Data Protection Law", "Royal Decree M/19", "National Strategy for Data & AI", "Vision 2030"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/saudi-arabia-ai-law-policy-updates", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/saudi-arabia-ai-law-policy-updates.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/saudi-arabia-ai-law-policy-updates.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/saudi-arabia-ai-law-policy-updates.jsonld"}}