• Vice Minister for Labor Sector: We have achieved 50% of the target of the National Training Campaign program (Waad) 

• Director-General of the International Labor Organization: Artificial intelligence should be viewed as a catalyst for positive change, not a threat

• Rayan Model contains ten billion parameters and is trained on a trillion data points from all over the world

 The Global Labor Market Conference, organized by the MHRSD, in partnership with the International Labor Organization and the World Bank, continued the activities of the second day at the KAICC in Riyadh. It discussed the issues of the global labor market and in attempts to find innovative solutions to meet the challenges posed by the technical and demographic changes that the market is facing currently and in the future, embodying the kingdom's leading role at the international level.

During the opening speech of the second day's activities, Vice Minister for Labor Sector H.E. Dr. Abdulla Nasser Abuthnain, reviewed the kingdom's efforts in skills development and addressing new labor patterns, stressing that The Kingdom has prioritized skill development to support economic diversification toward a more productive and knowledge-based economy.

The Vice Minister added that the MHRSD has launched several strategic initiatives such as the Human Capability and Development Program, and the Labor Market Strategy, which have been established to drive skill development, which relied on the partnership between the public and private sectors, resulting in the establishment of 12 sectoral councils with over 150 participating members.

He explained that among the most prominent of these initiatives is the National Private Sector Training Pledge Program, 'Waad', which was launched with the aim of stimulating the private sector to train, where the pledges of commitment to training reached 1,155,000 million training opportunities until the end of 2025, announcing that during the first year of launching the campaign, 50% of the target has been achieved so far, as the campaign covers current employees, students and job seekers alike.

The Vice Minister also indicated that the efforts of the MHRSD have so far resulted in important and positive results in the Saudi labor market, where the total workforce of expatriates grew by 11% in the period from 2011 to 2022, the size of the Saudi workforce increased by 18% in the same period, and the participation of Saudi women in the labor market doubled from 17% to 36%.

His Excellency International Labor Organization (ILO) Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo, said in his keynote speech that digitization and artificial intelligence contribute to increasing the risk of unemployment for some workers, but these workers have an opportunity to engage in labor markets of non-traditional patterns, calling for artificial intelligence not to be viewed as a threat, but rather as a driving force for positive change.

He added that digital literacy is extremely important for the new generations, just as reading and writing was important for previous generations, pointing out that 3more than 3 out of 4 young people are informally employed, and that the majority of them work today in temporary jobs or without contracts, calling on the countries of the world to join hands and unite efforts to ensure the prosperity of future labor markets, and the upbringing of productive generations of workers, being the driving force of the future.

GLMC Day 2 witnessed the unveiling of 'Rayan,' the first ever AI tool specifically concerning global labor markets, a program specialized in labor markets, where it works using a language model that contains ten billion parameters and was trained one trillion data points from all over the world.

Rayan' is capable of providing up-to-date information and responses on all queries related to global labor markets, make the highest possible use of the huge information available on the internet and in various books and literature related to labor markets, contribute to solving emerging problems and create a quick response to what the markets are facing.

Introducing the tool, GLMC CEO Ohoud Al-Shamikh, demonstrated Rayan's capability, asking "Tell me Rayan, with declining populations across the globe how can AI be used in the labor market to help adapt to these new realities?". Rayan gave her a detailed answer, explaining how this situation can be worked out and solved.

Day 2 features an equally impressive line-up of speakers and participants, including Saudi officials such as H.E. Dr. Abdullah bin Sharaf Al-Ghamdi, President of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority, H.E. Dr. Ahmed bin Abdullah Al-Zahrani Deputy Minister or Skills and Training, Her Excellency Dr. Najah Ashri, vice president of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and His Excellency Mr. Mazen Khalifa, CEO of Human Resources at Riyadh bank.