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Tariq Al-Mansouri

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  • SDAIA Academy will run 18 specialized bootcamps in data and artificial intelligence during August.
  • Tracks include generative programming, AI agent systems engineering, computer vision, prompt engineering, and modern data engineering.
  • Registration runs through the AthkaX platform, SDAIA’s national capacity-building portal.
  • The programs align with the Year of Artificial Intelligence and the workforce goals of Saudi Vision 2030.

SDAIA Academy summer bootcamps return this August with 18 specialized training programs in data and artificial intelligence. The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority announced the lineup on July 20 under what it calls the future summer initiative. Two groups are in scope. Specialists already working in the field and people trying to break into it.

Think of it as a compressed apprenticeship. Rather than a semester of theory, participants spend the days building.

What the 18 tracks cover

The curriculum leans technical. Programs run across generative programming, AI agent systems engineering, AI agent development, and modern data engineering for AI applications. Computer vision for developers is on the list. So are prompt engineering, responsible AI use, and applying artificial intelligence to raise productivity and tighten business processes.

Those titles map closely to what companies are hiring for right now. An AI agent that books, checks, and escalates on its own needs someone who can wire it together and keep it from going off the rails. That is a job, not a concept.

Data governance gets equal billing.  A second cluster of programs handles data management, governance, quality, and integration. It sounds less glamorous than agent engineering. It usually decides whether the agent works at all. A model reads whatever you feed it. Feed it duplicated records and stale fields, and the output looks confident and wrong. SDAIA has spent years building the rules around national data use, so training people to apply those rules is part of the same project.

How the SDAIA Academy summer bootcamps run

The format is intensive. Short, dense, hands-on. The academy focuses on practical skills, smart solution development, application design, and best practices in responsible AI deployment and data management. Participants are meant to walk out with work they built rather than notes they will lose.

That design says something about the hiring market. Shipping an AI agent or repairing a broken pipeline is demonstrable. Reading about either is not.

Registration and the AthkaX platform

Registration for the SDAIA Academy summer bootcamps runs through the AthkaX platform at athkax.sdaia.gov.sa. AthkaX is SDAIA’s national platform for capacity building in data and AI, launched during the International Conference on Data and AI Capacity Building. Program details and schedules are on the same platform.

Where the bootcamps fit in Saudi Vision 2030

August is the second wave of the season. In early July, SDAIA Academy launched eight training programs and bootcamps under a July summer initiative, mixing professional tracks with beginner courses on prompt engineering and AI at work. Eighteen bootcamps are more than double that count, in a single month.

The SDAIA training bootcamps sit within the Year of Artificial Intelligence and the workforce ambitions of Saudi Vision 2030, which calls for a globally competitive digital workforce. AthkaX connects to the Human Capability Development Program, one of the Vision 2030 programs.

AI training programs in Saudi Arabia have turned into a steady pipeline rather than scattered one-off events. Over the past year, SDAIA Academy has run a quantum computing camp and a professional program in large language models built toward NVIDIA certification. The SDAIA Academy summer bootcamps extend that cadence into the summer months, when students and job seekers have time to commit.

If a move into data or AI work is on your list, August is the window.

Saudi Arabia’s AI market, 2025–2032

saudi-ai-market-chart

 

Three houses looked at the same market and came back with numbers that barely overlap. Ken Research starts Saudi AI at $4.3 billion in 2025 and takes it to $19.36 billion by 2031. A second forecast begins higher, at $5.2 billion, but grows more slowly and lands at $14.3 billion. A third starts at just $2.14 billion and nearly matches the top line by 2032.

The base year is where they disagree most: the highest estimate is more than double the lowest. That gap is a definitional problem, not a forecasting one. What all three agree on is direction, and Saudi enterprise spending backs it up.

TAGS
  • AI, Artificial Intelligence, Data Centers, Saudi Arabia

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Apple's iPhone Duo
  • iPhone

The iPhone Duo is Apple’s first foldable iPhone, and it opens like a small book into a 7.6-inch screen. Closed, you hold a 5.4-inch outer display that fits in a pocket. Both screens share the same aspect ratio, so a video or app scales cleanly as you move between them. Stand it up on a table, and it works hands-free for calls or video. Apple showed the phone on September 9 at its Surprise and Shine event in Cupertino, where new chief executive John Ternus led his first keynote. He said rival foldables often feel like two phones stuck together. The Duo tries to feel like one device that changes size when you need it.

What the screens and camera can do

Open the Duo and the inner display runs 50 percent larger than the iPhone 18 Pro Max. A custom nano-texture finish cuts glare and hides the crease, the seam that has annoyed foldable owners for years. Peak brightness reaches 3000 nits, so the screen stays readable outdoors. Inside, an under-display FaceTime camera keeps the view whole, with no notch breaking the screen. The rear camera leans on a 48MP Dual Fusion system with a main and an ultra-wide lens. There is no telephoto, a trade Apple made to save room in the thin body. Smart Take reads the scene and snaps the photo when everyone poses, so you can stand in the shot instead of behind it. You can also shoot 48MP photos and 4K video at up to 120 frames per second.

iPhone Duo specs that matter for daily use

The iPhone Duo specs point to a phone built for long, heavy days. Inside sits the A20 Pro chip with a vapor chamber that spreads heat during games and video edits. Apple pairs it with a dual-battery design that fits more cells into the frame. You get up to 31 hours of video on the inner screen and up to 44 hours on the outer one. Plug it in, and it reaches 50 percent in about 20 minutes. A Grade 5 titanium frame and a precision hinge give the body its strength, and Touch ID moves to the side button in place of Face ID.

iPhone Duo prices are ridiculously high

Here is the part your wallet cares about. The iPhone Duo price starts at $1,999 for 256GB in the United States, which makes it the most expensive iPhone in the lineup. In the UAE, iPhone Duo starts at AED 8,499 for the 256 GB, AED 9,349 for the 512 GB, AED 11,049 for the 1 TB, and the laptop-price level of AED 13,599 for the 2 TB. Preorders open October 16, and the iPhone Duo release date lands on October 23. Apple plans a first wave across more than 70 countries, then adds 28 more on October 30. For comparison, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts near $1,899.

Why the foldable iPhone arrives only now

Apple waited years while Samsung and others sold foldables. Now the foldable iPhone brings iOS 27 features built for two screens, like Split View and apps that respond to how you hold the phone. eSIM handles the connection, since there is no SIM tray anywhere. Apple Pencil support arrives later in 2026. That gap of a few weeks after the iPhone 18 Pro points to a slower, careful rollout for a harder build. If you have wanted a phone that turns into a small tablet without feeling clumsy, this is Apple’s answer, and you can hold one this month.

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Work from Park initiative
  • Business

The Work from Park initiative puts bookable workspaces inside Dubai’s public parks, starting with Al Barsha Pond Park. Dubai Municipality announced the programme on 19 April 2026 and said it had signed two memoranda of cooperation to deliver it. One went to Group AMANA, which builds the units, and the other to Letswork LLC, which operates them.

Entrepreneurs, freelancers, small and medium-sized enterprises

The structure is a public-private partnership. Dubai Municipality provides the park and the mandate. Private firms handle design, construction, and daily operation. The municipality said the model gives the private sector a route into public facilities while each site keeps its role as a park.

Target users are entrepreneurs, freelancers, small and medium-sized enterprises, and anyone doing remote work in Dubai. Content creators get dedicated production rooms, which the municipality said are meant to strengthen their place in the emirate’s creative economy.

Letswork runs the booking side. Users reserve space through the Letswork app, check in on arrival and use one membership across the company’s network of venues. The offer covers desks by the hour, event space, podcast recording and production rooms for creators. Letswork will also run training programmes and group sessions for creative talent and new businesses.

How the Work from Park initiative is built

Group AMANA delivers the first site through its DuBox unit. DuBox builds the workspace modules in a factory, then transports them to the park and assembles them on site. The municipality said this shortens the build schedule, reduces waste and lowers the environmental footprint compared with conventional construction. Units can be reconfigured later as demand shifts.

The Al Barsha Pond Park site was scheduled to open in May 2026. Letswork now lists it as a bookable venue on its platform. The listing describes modular pods with high-speed Wi-Fi, power and climate-controlled seating, plus podcast studios and creative production rooms. Members can book day passes, meeting rooms and private offices under one Letswork membership.

Dubai Municipality said the Work from Park initiative would add more sites across the emirate later in 2026. Locations and opening dates for those have yet to be confirmed.

Bader Anwahi, CEO of the Public Facilities Agency at Dubai Municipality, said the partnerships combine advanced construction methods with private sector expertise to produce public infrastructure “that is flexible, sustainable, and aligned with modern lifestyles and work patterns.”

Richard Abboud, CEO of Group AMANA, said modular construction lets the company build efficient, adaptable units at speed.

Why the Work from Park initiative fits Dubai’s planning goals

The programme sits under three policy frameworks. Dubai’s 2040 Parks and Greenery Strategy targets 95 million park visits a year by 2040. Land use falls under the Dubai Urban Plan 2040. Economic targets through 2033 come from the Dubai Economic Agenda D33.

Omar AlMheiri, co-founder of Letswork, said the partnership would add dedicated creative spaces and podcast studios. He described it as a step toward changing where and how people in the UAE do flexible work.

Dubai Municipality describes the Work from Park initiative as the first of its kind. Existing Dubai coworking spaces operate from office towers, hotels and retail sites. This programme moves the format onto municipal parkland, with the municipality as host and a private platform as operator.

Outdoor workspaces in Dubai face one obvious constraint: summer heat. The Letswork listing addresses this with climate-controlled seating inside the pods. Demand across a full year of operation will show whether the format holds. The second site, once announced, will be the next signal of how fast the municipality intends to scale.

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