National initiatives

Among the most prominent national initiatives is the "Artificial Intelligence Studio," launched by the ministry as the first national center specialized in artificial intelligence, operating in an open collaborative manner. It aims to connect the challenges faced by government and private entities with smart solutions, enhance the innovation environment, and support startups and researchers in the field of artificial intelligence. The studio is located in the SAS Innovation Center at the Innovation Complex in Muscat and is operated by a private operator with government funding for three years.

"Ma'een AI"

Within the framework of major strategic projects under the National Program for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Digital Technologies, the Omani language model "Moeen AI" has emerged as the first advanced national language model in the Sultanate of Oman. It was developed and trained on local data with the aim of supporting digital sovereignty, empowering the Arabic language, and assisting government employes in analysis, summarization, and content creation, while maintaining data security within the Sultanate of Oman, thereby enhancing the readiness of government institutions for smart transformation.

Experimental projects

The Information Security Center at the ministry, in collaboration with GBM, developed an intelligent chatbot system to support users in the field of cybersecurity, contributing to the provision of immediate and reliable support, reducing manual effort, speeding up access to information, and ensuring data accuracy.

The initiatives also included the implementation of several research and strategic projects, among them the A2M Platform (BIMANIC) project in collaboration with the National University of Science and Technology, which aims to predict student outcomes and support educational planning, alongside the Afaaq System project for evaluating tenders using artificial intelligence technologies, which has shown promising results in automating technical and financial evaluation processes, marking an important step toward enhancing transparency and accelerating decision-making.

In the healthcare sector, the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with Bahwan Healthcare Services and Muscat Pharmacy, implemented a national project for the early detection of diabetic retinopathy using artificial intelligence technologies. The project contributed to reducing waiting lists, increasing diagnostic accuracy, improving patient satisfaction, and enhancing service accessibility. This project is a qualitative achievement, as the Sultanate of Oman has become the third country globally to implement this service on a comprehensive national scale, with future prospects for exporting these technologies to global markets.

In the field of medical imaging, an AI platform for analyzing spinal MRI images was implemented at Khoula Hospital, in collaboration with Civilization Company. The Radiology AI platform contributed to providing preliminary analysis of radiology images and offering supporting reports for radiologists and orthopedic doctors, thereby aiding in the automation of medical reports and supporting medical decision-making.

The Projects, Tenders, and Local Content Authority, in collaboration with the Innovation Experience Company, has implemented a project to employ artificial intelligence in analyzing open data for the "Esnad" platform using the "Hammam" platform, which provides data analysis services, smart alerts, and report preparation thru written conversation, helping registered companies on the platform to identify the most suitable tenders for their fields of work.

The Projects, Tenders, and Local Content Authority, in collaboration with Afaaq Company, developed an intelligent system for evaluating tenders using artificial intelligence technologies. This system aims to accelerate and improve the technical and financial evaluation processes, and to issue comprehensive reports that include evaluation results and final award recommendations, thereby enhancing the efficiency and objectivity of decision-making and ensuring the selection of the best offers in record time.

In a qualitative experiment, the Public Prosecution, in collaboration with Rahal Company, implemented a project to employ artificial intelligence in analyzing judicial documents, generating questions for the parties involved in cases, and drafting decisions for archiving or referral, while ensuring local data processing due to its sensitivity. The experiment achieved an accuracy rate exceeding 90%, confirming the feasibility of using artificial intelligence to support the efficiency of judicial work.

These pilot projects embody the commitment of the Sultanate of Oman to adopt artificial intelligence as a strategic tool to improve service quality, enhance government performance efficiency, and strengthen partnerships with the private sector, thereby supporting the achievement of Oman Vision 2040 goals and establishing Oman as an attractive environment for innovation and advanced technologies.