Rising stars, global impact: KSA at the forefront of AI innovation

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King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is helping define Saudi Arabia’s essential role in the critical domain of artificial intelligence — a mission exemplified by the Rising Stars in AI Symposium 2025. By convening the world’s brightest early-career minds for creative dialogue, sparking new ideas and collaborations, the University has reinforced its position as a hub for transformative AI research in the Kingdom and beyond.

“At KAUST, we are deeply committed to building an environment where ideas flourish, discoveries emerge, and impact is achieved. We’re about long-term support of outstanding people,” KAUST President Sir Edward Byrne AC told the symposium. “The relationships that began here between future colleagues, research partners and mentors will play some role in shaping individual careers — and possibly the trajectory of AI globally.”

Organized by the Center of Excellence for Generative AI, the symposium’s fourth edition, April 7-10, provided a platform for 25 emerging researchers — Ph.D. students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty — to present their work recently accepted at top-tier AI conferences, including the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, the International Conference on Machine Learning, and the Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.

“These rising stars come to KAUST because they know we’re a serious player in the AI research community,” said Professor Bernard Ghanem, Chair of the Center. He emphasized the symposium’s strategic value for KAUST’s own AI talent, who used the event to highlight their pioneering research in generative AI, machine learning, and computer vision, as well as natural language processing. “It’s an opportunity for knowledge transfer, brainstorming and collaborations.” 

Click here to read the full story on KAUST News.