Saudi Arabia has launched HUMAIN Chat, a conversational AI app developed entirely within the Kingdom, marking a major milestone in the region’s artificial intelligence ambitions. Backed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and built on the ALLAM 34B large language model, the platform is designed to serve Arabic speakers with linguistic accuracy, cultural relevance, and sovereign data control.
Launch – A strategic AI milestone for Saudi Arabia
HUMAIN Chat is the debut product from HUMAIN, a fully owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The company was established in May 2025 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with the strategic aim of positioning Saudi Arabia as a global hub for artificial intelligence — with a specific focus on Arabic-language capabilities.The launch of HUMAIN Chat signals Saudi Arabia’s entry into the global AI landscape with a sovereign, culturally grounded, and technologically advanced offering. The app is powered by ALLAM 34B, HUMAIN’s flagship Arabic large language model, which the company describes as the most advanced Arabic AI model ever developed.Initially available across iOS, Android, and web platforms, the application has been rolled out first in Saudi Arabia, with a regional expansion across the Middle East and a global release planned thereafter.According to CEO Tareq Amin (formerly of Rakuten Symphony), HUMAIN Chat represents a “historic milestone” in building AI that reflects Saudi values, infrastructure, and talent. He emphasized that this launch is only the beginning of a long-term journey to develop AI solutions that serve both regional and global users.
Technology – Built for Arabic speakers, designed for global relevance
ALLAM 34B stands at the core of HUMAIN Chat. This large language model has been developed from the ground up in Saudi Arabia, involving over 120 AI specialists, including 35 Ph.D.-level researchers and a team balanced in gender (50% women). The model was trained on one of the largest Arabic datasets ever compiled and then refined with input from over 600 domain experts and 250 evaluators.Key features of HUMAIN Chat include:
- Real-time web search for updated knowledge
- Arabic speech recognition supporting a wide range of dialects
- Seamless bilingual conversation — users can switch between Arabic and English within the same dialogue
- Conversation sharing capabilities for collaboration and reuse
- Full compliance with Saudi Arabia’s Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL)
- End-to-end hosting on HUMAIN infrastructure within the Kingdom, ensuring full data sovereignty
The app is built not only to be linguistically accurate but also to reflect Islamic, Middle Eastern, and local cultural contexts — filling a long-standing gap in generative AI for Arabic speakers.
Sovereignty – A Model for Saudi AI leadership
The development of ALLAM 34B builds on earlier models from the National Center for AI under the Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA). According to an independent evaluation by Cohere on MMLU benchmarks, ALLAM 34B is now considered the most advanced Arabic LLM produced in the Arab world.The model is bilingual by design but prioritizes Arabic, aiming to serve over 400 million Arabic speakers and 2 billion Muslims globally — a user base historically underserved by mainstream generative AI tools.By combining technical sophistication with cultural sensitivity, HUMAIN Chat seeks to deliver a solution that empowers users to create, learn, and connect in their own linguistic and cultural context.CEO Tareq Amin stressed the symbolic and strategic significance of the release:“We are proving that globally competitive technologies can be rooted in our own language, infrastructure, and values — built in Saudi Arabia by Saudi talent.”
Vision – HUMAIN’s expanding role in global AI
HUMAIN Chat is the first release under HUMAIN IQ, a suite of AI-driven products and services that the company plans to expand globally. This initiative reflects Saudi Arabia’s ambition not just to adopt AI but to shape its evolution — with a focus on IP leadership, homegrown talent, and sector-specific AI applications.HUMAIN, as a company, is developing full-stack AI capabilities across four verticals:
- Next-generation data centers
- High-performance infrastructure and cloud platforms
- Advanced AI models, including multimodal and sector-specific solutions
- Transformative AI tools for public and private sector innovation
These initiatives are intended to drive exponential value, economic diversification, and technological sovereignty.The company emphasized that HUMAIN Chat will continue to evolve through user interaction, improving its performance and relevance with real-world usage. It has called on Saudi citizens and Arabic speakers globally to adopt the platform, contribute to its growth, and help shape the future of Arabic AI.