Princess Sumaya: The future of artificial intelligence is not measured by the speed of its adoption, but by its ability to bring about real change in people's lives.

The Princess emphasized that success in digital transformation is not measured by the number of technologies institutions introduce, but by the value they generate, their ability to address challenges, create new opportunities, and improve the quality of life. She called for moving beyond the stage of limited experiments and demonstrations toward practical, scalable solutions that yield tangible economic and social results.

In her outlook on the future of artificial intelligence in Jordan and the region, Her Highness stressed that digital sovereignty does not mean merely possessing or using technology, but having the ability to shape its future, govern it, and direct it to serve national priorities.

She stated that the requirement is to move from being a consumer of technology to an innovator and an active contributor to its development, ensuring that digital transformation does not widen existing gaps, but rather expands opportunities for participation and growth for all.

Her Highness cited international experiences that offer practical lessons in this field, including Estonia in developing digital governance and enhancing transparency and public service efficiency, and India in leveraging digital infrastructure to expand access to services and economic opportunities.

She also pointed to the Finnish experience in education, Morocco in renewable energy, and Costa Rica in combining environmental protection with economic growth, emphasizing that benefiting from these models requires adapting them to national needs and priorities.

At the heart of this transformation, Her Highness placed humanity, education, and skills, confirming that investing in human capabilities is the foundation for any successful technological future. According to Her Highness, artificial intelligence requires not only technical expertise but also critical thinking, creativity, adaptability, and continuous learning.

She stressed the need for skills development programs to include various segments of the workforce, not just technology specialists, and for future generations to be prepared to work alongside intelligent systems and benefit from their capabilities.

The Princess also called for directing innovation and artificial intelligence toward the most pressing developmental challenges, foremost among them education, healthcare, energy security, and climate change, while ensuring the development of responsible applications that respect ethics, governance, data protection, and environmental and social impact.

Her Highness noted that technology alone does not create transformation; its success requires leadership with a long-term vision, institutions capable of keeping pace with change, evidence-based policies, flexible regulatory and legislative frameworks, and a genuine partnership between the public and private sectors.

She affirmed that building public trust in technology begins with ensuring that citizens understand the systems that affect their lives, trust them, and feel their direct benefits.

Her Highness stated that the future of artificial intelligence will not be determined by those who adopt this technology the fastest, but by those who possess the vision, institutions, skills, and the courage necessary to employ it in the most useful and impactful way, emphasizing that adoption is the starting point, while creating impact remains the true ambition, with humanity at the center of both.

In a related context, calls emerged during the forum to invest in Jordanian talents to build a national artificial intelligence industry capable of serving Arab markets, and to leverage local expertise in the Arabic language, its dialects, and the needs of institutions in the region.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the "int@j" association, Fadi Qutaishat, said that the opportunity lies in developing specialized Arab solutions atop available global models, including speech recognition in various dialects, language model adaptation, and text-to-speech conversion, instead of bearing the cost of building giant models from scratch.

He emphasized that this opportunity is not limited to model development, but extends to their governance, security, data protection, integration with institutional systems, operation, and updating. These areas provide opportunities to employ Jordanian expertise and open new regional markets, and he called for enhancing the role of government institutions in adopting solutions developed by local companies, which helps them prove their capabilities, expand, and provides high-quality opportunities for youth across various governorates.

For his part, the CEO of the "int@j" association, Nidal Bitar, indicated that the main challenge facing institutions is to prove what artificial intelligence has actually achieved in terms of productivity and competitiveness, and the extent to which its benefits reflect on various segments of society, stressing that the forum focuses on three interconnected pillars: digital sovereignty, skills, and inclusive digital growth.

Bitar highlighted the importance of expanding women's participation in innovation and leadership in the technology sector, noting the role of the Princess in supporting the "SheTech" unit for economic empowerment in the IT sector since its launch in 2018.

In the context of the new generation entering the field of innovation, the participation of university students in the AI-based video competition reflected the breadth of interest in these technologies beyond traditional technological disciplines. The competition saw the participation of 73 male and female students from 17 Jordanian universities, who presented 64 works, 11 of which were showcased under the title: "A Leap Towards 2033."

The entries included students from diverse disciplines, including nursing, pharmacy, business administration, media, cinema, applied arts, and education, indicating the widening scope of artificial intelligence applications and the importance of involving various disciplines in shaping the features of the digital future.

In turn, the German Ambassador to the Kingdom, Dr. Bertram von Moltke, pointed to the importance of measuring the impact of artificial intelligence on corporate competitiveness and employment opportunities, citing data indicating that more than 60 percent of information and communications technology companies in Jordan integrate these technologies into their products and services. He emphasized that the benefits extend to industry, trade, and other sectors by improving product quality, reducing waste, and developing inventory management and demand forecasting.

The forum, which was attended by officials, business leaders, investors, experts, and representatives from the technology sector and academic institutions, addressed a number of issues related to transitioning from AI adoption to achieving actual returns, including AI investments, infrastructure, digital sovereignty, future skills, productivity, and technology applications in Jordanian institutions.

The forum was organized by the "SheTech" unit at the "int@j" association, supported by the second phase of the Innovative Private Sector Development project, implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), in cooperation with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply.