Artificial intelligence (AI) and its applications are key to building a sustainable future that will benefit communities and support economic and social development efforts, reported state news agency Wam, citing a senior UAE minister.

Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, the Minister of State for AI, was speaking at a seminar entitled, 'The Artificial Intelligence Revolution' in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

The seminar was among several events organised by the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development as part of the UAE’s pavilion at the Riyadh International Book Fair. UAE was chosen as the exhibition’s Guest of Honour.

Al Olama stressed upon the need to adopt AI across the region’s countries and termed it as absolutely critical to ensure that they are on par with the achievements of their counterparts in the west.

The minister cited the various applications of AI in our daily lives, in addition to a number of projects being developed by the world leaders in the field such as self-driving cars, rocket landing programmes, mobile phone assistants, cashier-free supermarkets and advanced robots.

"Such applications will completely revolutionise human life as we know it, and therefore governments should adapt quickly to these developments to ensure continued happiness and prosperity for their people," he added.