At a time when voice recognition, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation are changing the world, Saudi Arabia is at the crossroads of this technological revolution. With a youthful, technology-starved population and more than 90% smartphone penetration, the Kingdom is quickly emerging as a top digital hub in the Middle East. Firms such as Soniox, a top U.S.-based speech-to-text platform, are now setting their sights on Saudi Arabia as rich soil for AI-driven innovation.
But beneath the glossy surface of Vision 2030, digital progress, and international cooperation, there is a disturbing reality: Saudi Arabia is not a free nation. It is a surveillance state. It is an autocracy where voices are not applauded — they are stifled. The same technologies used to empower voices and bridge communication divides could easily become instruments of oppression, censorship, and control in the hands of an autocratic government.
As Saudi Arabia gears up to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup, it is more crucial than ever to ask if the international football community should reward a regime that persistently disregards human rights, stifles speech, and surveils its people through digital channels. The answer is no. We need to boycott Saudi FIFA 2034
The AI Boom in Saudi Arabia: Progress or Political Facade?
Saudi Arabia is making headlines for embracing artificial intelligence and digital transformation. According to the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA), 66 of the 96 strategic objectives of Vision 2030 involve data and artificial intelligence. The communications and IT sector is now worth over $44 billion, contributing 4.1% to the country’s GDP.
The adoption of applications such as Tawakkalna in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic only served to demonstrate Saudi Arabia’s capacity for rapid roll-out of mobile-first digital solutions. With 70% of the population younger than 35 years old, the Kingdom is a dream market for businesses like Soniox that are engaged in multilingual, real-time voice AI.
But seldom talked about is how they fit into Saudi Arabia’s wider system of digital authoritarianism. Technology that can be utilized for productivity and accessibility is also tailor-made for surveillance, manipulation, and oppression.
Voice Recognition in a Country Without Free Speech
Saudi Arabia is not only a place where dissent is disliked — it is outlawed. Journalists, bloggers, women’s rights activists, and nonviolent critics have been imprisoned, tortured, or even assassinated for saying something critical.
- Freedom House rates Saudi Arabia 7 out of 100 on its global freedom index — one of the lowest in the world.
- World Press Freedom Index 2024 places Saudi Arabia in position 170 among 180 nations.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has constantly expressed concerns regarding the Kingdom’s abuse of spyware and surveillance on human rights activists and journalists.
Now add the implications of sophisticated AI-driven voice recognition technology being implemented here. While Soniox boasts of millisecond token-level transcription, the question arises: Whose voices will be transcribed — and why?
Innovation Without Accountability Is Dangerous
Saudi Arabia’s adoption of artificial intelligence and voice recognition technologies is not necessarily a bad thing. Technological progress is capable of reshaping societies — provided it is joined by transparency, accountability, and human rights safeguards. In states like Saudi Arabia, with autocratic leadership, innovation tends to work not for the public, but for the state.
The state’s strict regulation of the internet, social media, and telecommunication infrastructure means advanced technology — voice AI included — can be redirected to implement mass surveillance, eavesdrop on personal conversations, and monitor protesters. Without freedom of speech, independent monitoring, or an independent judiciary, citizens are unable to resist digital abuses.
Saudi Arabia can take pride in being a leader into the future. But a future built on silence, surveillance, and fear is one that the world cannot either support or celebrate. FIFA and the international football world need to appreciate this truth and not consider it legitimate to either enhance a regime that uses innovation as a smokescreen for repression.
From Khashoggi to Tawakkalna: Surveillance is a Tool of the Regime
One cannot speak of Saudi Arabia’s engagement with digital domination without referring to the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist murdered and hacked up within a Saudi consulate in 2018. U.S. intelligence agencies found that the operation was sanctioned by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Reports also documented the regime’s use of Israeli-developed Pegasus spyware to monitor activists and critics, even internationally. During the pandemic, the government rolled out apps such as Tawakkalna and Absher in the name of public protection. But human rights groups such as Amnesty International have highlighted how these apps can also:
- Monitor location
- Regulate women’s exit permits
- And be used as tools of digital surveillance.
The issue isn’t the technology — it’s the way the regime deploys it.
The World Cup: A Trophy for Tyranny?
Saudi Arabia is leveraging sports as part of its “sportswashing” initiative — pouring billions into football, golf (through LIV Golf), and now the 2034 FIFA World Cup to enhance its international reputation. But granting an authoritarian regime a high-profile global event is extremely problematic. Let’s consider the precedent:
Russia hosted the 2018 FIFA World Cup — and four years later invaded Ukraine. Qatar was host to the 2022 World Cup, which met international criticism for its exploitation of migrant workers and absence of human rights provisions. Saudi Arabia comes next, a country where:
- LGBTQ individuals are criminalized,
- Manahel al-Otaibi, a women’s rights activist and fitness instructor, was sentenced to 11 years in prison
- And there are no political parties, free media, or independent judiciary.
Why should a regime that mutes its people be permitted to blow its brand around the globe?
AI Can’t Make Injustice Disappear — It Can Aggravate It
Technologies such as Soniox have revolutionary promise — in medicine, learning, accessibility, and beyond. But when taken up by oppressive regimes, even the best of tools can be turned into weapons.
As Klemen Simonic, Soniox’s creator, stated:
“The tech evolves, but the human voice is still the most intimate, most powerful way we express ourselves.”
In Saudi Arabia, that human voice is still not free.
Don’t Let FIFA Legitimize Oppression
Saudi Arabia wishes to demonstrate its modernity via AI, skyscrapers, and stadiums. But modernity has to be accompanied by freedom, dignity, and justice. The hosting of the FIFA World Cup 2034 would convey that:
- Human rights don’t matter.
- Surveillance states are welcome on the world stage.
- And football is on the auction block to the highest bidder, regardless of crimes.
Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past. Let us not cheer for goals while political prisoners rot in silence. Let us boycott Saudi Arabia in 2034.