News

Saudi Arabia Will Invest $270Bn To Boost Clean Energy Sector

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy, Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, says the country wants to be the leading exporter of hydrogen.

Published

3 years ago

February 1, 2023

Nour Nasir

saudi arabia will invest $270 billion to boost clean energy sector

Although being well-known as one of the world’s largest oil producers and exporters, Saudi Arabia is making a huge commitment to developing a low-carbon energy sector, planning to boost its renewable energy percentage to 50%, and swapping any remaining oil use for natural gas. As part of the plan, the Saudi energy minister recently announced that the country will inject $270 billion into various low-carbon projects before 2030 to boost the clean energy sector.

“We are determined to be the leading exporter of hydrogen, as well as to provide clean hydrogen for local uses in heavy industries to produce green products such as green steel, green aluminum, fertilizers, and others at competitive prices,” says Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy, Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud.

Also Read: Dubai Unveils Plans For Climate-Controlled Cycling Highway

Bin Salman’s comments came while attending the in-Kingdom Total Value Add Forum and Exhibition. The announcement reinforces the kingdom’s commitments at COP27, with Saudi Arabia aiming to be an electricity exporter and expanding its transmission and distribution network.

As part of the greater Saudi Green Initiative, emissions across the region will drop by more than 270 million tons of carbon dioxide while employing a circular carbon economy approach.

News

At I/O 2026, Sundar Pichai Concedes AI Must Deliver Real Value

Gemini 3.5, a personal agent called Spark, agentic shopping, and Android XR eyewear are all aimed at making AI feel useful, not just impressive.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 20, 2026

Nour Nasir

at io 2026 sundar pichai concedes ai must deliver real value

Google

Google’s annual I/O developer conference (I/O 2026) has recently become a status update on the same question: can the company turn its AI spending into products people use every day? This year, chief executive Sundar Pichai described Google as being in a phase of hyper progress, while conceding this is the part of the cycle where people want to see real value in the products they use on a day-to-day basis.

The strategy on display was to push agents — AI systems that act on a user’s behalf — into nearly every Google product at once. Search now has an “intelligent search box” that returns generated explainer videos alongside links. Gmail, Docs, YouTube and Maps are gaining their own agent layers, including a Docs Live feature that turns spoken instructions into drafted text with citations.

Two new models, Gemini 3.5 and a cheaper Gemini 3.5 Flash, arrived the same day. Google says 900 million people now use Gemini, and that more than 50 billion images have been generated with it. The pricing tier names are likely to confuse buyers: a new AI Ultra plan launches at $100 a month, while the older Gemini AI Ultra drops from $250 to $200.

The flashier announcements were Gemini Omni, a video generator pitched as a more realistic answer to OpenAI’s discontinued Sora 2, and Gemini Spark, a personal agent that handles recurring tasks across a user’s Google account. A new universal shopping cart lets agents complete purchases across multiple retailers from inside Google itself, placing the company between the merchant and the buyer, and also owning the checkout.

Also Read: DJI Teases Dual-Camera Osmo Pocket 4P For 2026 Launch

Google also confirmed its Android XR eyewear, built with Samsung and frames from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Audio-only glasses ship this autumn; a display-equipped version, which would superimpose live translations into the wearer’s field of view, is still in development. Both sets translate, however only the display version shows you the result.

What Pichai did not resolve is the bargain underneath all this. An agent is only useful to the degree it knows your calendar, your inbox, your shopping history and your physical surroundings. Google has now confirmed that, in time, the same context may carry advertising.