NEOM: Saudi Arabia’s self-learning city where artificial intelligence shapes everyday life

 

Neom: Artificial Intelligence quietly studying daily life in Neom

In the desert northwest of Tabuk, a vast experiment is rising from the sand—one that aims not just to house residents, but to learn from them.

Backed by Saudi Arabia’s powerful Public Investment Fund and championed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, NEOM is being built as more than a futuristic development. It is envisioned as a “cognitive city,” a place where artificial intelligence quietly studies daily life and adjusts the urban environment in real time.

Under the intense desert sun, construction crews move between massive concrete foundations. Tablets display live analytics tracking efficiency, logistics, and productivity. Even before the first residents arrive, the city is already observing itself—measuring, optimizing, refining. The process mirrors the philosophy behind the project: everything becomes data.

At the center of this ambition is THE LINE, a 170-kilometer mirrored corridor stretching across the landscape. Designed as a fully integrated AI-powered urban spine, THE LINE promises to respond dynamically to the rhythms of everyday life. Commuting habits, shopping patterns, and energy consumption would continuously feed into systems that adjust services accordingly. Lighting would dim automatically. Transit routes would shift based on demand. Climate systems would learn individual preferences.

 

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Supporters describe a city that anticipates needs before they are spoken.

Engineers involved in the project have suggested that as much as 90 percent of urban data could be harnessed to optimize infrastructure and services. In this model, human behavior becomes the blueprint. Streets, utilities, and logistics evolve not over decades, but over software cycles measured in days.

Rising construction costs have also shaped the project’s evolution. While early renderings emphasized dramatic mirrored towers, more recent priorities highlight digital infrastructure: data centers, AI-managed logistics hubs, and automated ports. Computation, investors increasingly believe, may prove more valuable than physical real estate.

At NEOM’s industrial hub, Oxagon, artificial intelligence systems already track cargo flows, predict bottlenecks, and coordinate movement. Cameras and biometric scanners identify trucks as they pass through checkpoints without stopping. Watching the operation feels less like observing a city and more like witnessing a vast operating system in motion.

Historically, cities have always adapted—traffic patterns reshape roads, neighborhoods evolve organically. But NEOM attempts to compress that slow evolution into real-time algorithmic adjustments. The pace of change could be unprecedented.

Whether that acceleration feels empowering or intrusive remains uncertain.

Urban planners quietly debate the trade-offs. A city that learns from its residents must also monitor them. Officials emphasize efficiency, sustainability, and security. Critics question autonomy and privacy. Both perspectives carry weight.

Beyond the construction sites, the desert remains silent except for heavy machinery and the occasional helicopter. The contrast is stark: algorithmic ambition set against ancient emptiness.

For Saudi Arabia’s leadership, the stakes extend far beyond architecture. NEOM forms a central pillar of Vision 2030—an effort to pivot the nation’s economy away from oil dependence and toward technology and innovation. The country’s past wealth was built on petroleum. Its future, leaders argue, may depend on data and artificial intelligence.

Around the world, planners are paying attention. Smart infrastructure has been tested in Singapore and implemented in scaled-down form in South Korea’s Songdo. Even Silicon Valley has experimented with sensor-driven neighborhoods. Yet NEOM’s scope and scale surpass those efforts.

 

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If projections hold, millions could eventually live in an environment that constantly recalibrates itself—predicting routines, optimizing movement, subtly guiding behavior. For some, that will feel like seamless convenience. For others, it may resemble quiet control.

Standing at the edge of the construction zone as mirrored panels rise into place, one senses that something foundational is shifting. Cities have always shaped human behavior. Now, they may begin to reshape themselves in response to it.

And once such a system is fully in motion, turning it off could prove far more difficult than building it.

Source: Abu Dhabi News