Three countries, three AI futures: what the UK, Saudi Arabia and India can learn from each other
AI is moving into a new era. For many years, a lot of discussion was centered on what the AI can do. It is now increasingly becoming hard for organizations to leverage the technology for monetary gain.
James Lloyd, enterprise AI and digital strategy specialist
British enterprise AI and digital strategy specialist James Lloyd reflects on his experience working in the UK's established technology sector and Saudi Arabia's ambitious digital transformation, and what those contrasting approaches could mean for India's AI economy.
AI is moving into a new era. For many years, a lot of discussion was centered on what the AI can do. It is now increasingly becoming hard for organizations to leverage the technology for monetary gain.
For James Lloyd, an AI and digital strategy expert who has experience working in the UK and Saudi Arabia, the solution largely lies in the environment.
Lloyd started off his career with data and analytics at PwC in London, working almost six years within the firm's AI and Data practice. He then moved to Saudi Arabia, where he took on the position of Digital Strategy Lead for Retail at THE LINE by NEOM, where he played an instrumental role in shaping the technology and AI strategy of the new retail ecosystem which included data foundations, digital customer experience, and the development strategy of a business-to-consumer marketplace worth over $1 billion in gross merchandise value.
This diversity gave him an advantage of seeing the world through both lenses.
You've been involved in AI and data strategy roles in the UK and you're now working on one of the boldest technology projects in Saudi Arabia. How different have the two experiences been for you?
James Lloyd: They've been quite different.
The challenge in the UK, especially within larger firms, is how to introduce new technology into a company which already has customers, processes, data and a set way of doing things. Overhauling the operating model whilst still serving customers and navigating regulation, amongst other factors, is hard.
One can build fantastic AI products but unless they integrate with how the organisation works and thus get adopted, they're not going to deliver any value.
What was different about Saudi Arabia was the ability to design much of the transformation from the ground up. At THE LINE, we were able to think about customer experience, channels, data, technology, operations and commercial models all at once.
What did working at PwC teach you about implementing AI in established businesses?
James Lloyd: That it needed to begin with the business problem not the AI technology.
While at PwC, I worked on developing an AI-powered media-mix modelling capability for a multinational retailer serving more than 30 countries. The system uncovered a potential upside in profits of up to 300 million by optimizing the media spend in terms of budget, channels and countries.
However, what is critical here is not just developing and rolling out the AI tool. It was making the insights generated usable to the commercial stakeholders.
We convened the Finance and Marketing departments in their process of determining their marketing budget and embedded the AI system into it. Both the Finance and the Marketing teams knew where the insights came from and had access to the data.
It is often assumed that an organization first needs an AI strategy and then look for something to apply it to. What I believe should be done in reverse.
But at times, AI is not the solution. There should be more focus on deterministic products or processes. Organizations will have to measure and promote adoption of such solutions as well. Adoption is always the difficult part.
How did that philosophy translate to your work at THE LINE?
James Lloyd: The scale was vastly different but the idea was the same.
My role was heading digital strategy within retail and thinking through how people would find and buy products, how physical and digital could come together, what information the retailers and operators would have and the technology and data capability required to support it.
We were also working on the strategy for a marketplace which was going to have a gross merchandise value of over $1 billion.
AI had the potential to personalize customer experience, demand forecasting and help operators understand the usage patterns. However, an AI use case isn't necessarily valuable just because it can be done with technology. It has to have dependable data, business process integration, accountability and economic value.
The hard part about AI transformation is not necessarily proving that you can build something, it's understanding what should be built and why. When anything can be built, the question of what to build and not build becomes more and more relevant.
Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in AI and digital infrastructure. What is the country doing differently?
James Lloyd: One of the key areas is the ability to think holistically at the ecosystem level.
It's not about Saudi Arabia focusing on individual AI applications. Rather, there is a concerted effort to create infrastructure, expertise, research, startups, investment and business applications simultaneously.
You need compute and infrastructure, researchers and engineers, businesses and organizations that are willing to become clients, entrepreneurs that can commercialize technology, and experts in both technology and commercial domains.
All of this coupled with an entrepreneurial population of ambitious youth results in rapid growth in entrepreneurship. As much as 63% of Saudi nationals are under 30 years old, whereas 521,969 new commercial registrations have been granted in 2024, which is a 60% increase over previous year. Furthermore, over 90% of people surveyed in Saudi Arabia anticipated a stronger national economy in 2026 compared to 2025.
In my time at NEOM, I had the opportunity to work with Wyatt Roy, the former parliamentarian from Australia and the current Head of Innovation, to identify and attract startups, entrepreneurs and tech firms to the Kingdom in order to help them establish and grow their operations in NEOM as well as expand throughout Saudi Arabia, GCC countries and beyond.
How important is international talent to an AI economy?
James Lloyd: Extremely important, especially during the initial phases of constructing an ecosystem.
International professionals can offer knowledge based on experience from other markets and programs that have been implemented in other markets. However, the objective should not be about hiring expertise. Knowledge transfer is the actual value.
Knowledge is best transferred when both international and local professionals work together to resolve complex issues and produce tangible results. At THE LINE, international professionals brought their experience from other markets, whereas Saudi professionals brought cultural insights, knowledge of national priorities and dedication.
Ultimately, the objective should be to develop local product leaders, engineers, researchers and entrepreneurs that can lead major programs and companies/technology development in the region.
What can India learn from the UK and Saudi Arabia?
James Lloyd: There is a chance for India to pick and choose aspects of both frameworks.
The advantage of the UK framework comes from its mature institutions, business, academic and professional frameworks and years of experience in successfully integrating complicated technology in large corporations.
The Saudi Arabia case shows the power of technology that has been embedded from the start in the business operation model rather than added in later on.
India is home to vast pools of technology talent and a sophisticated digital economy with businesses of an enormous scale.
This means India has both the ability to develop its own AI products and deploy them in an existing large economy.
Where are businesses currently getting AI wrong?
James Lloyd: The first big mistake is thinking about AI as a technology project and not a business transformation.
Experimentation is good; at some point, companies have to ask themselves what happened. Have they made better decisions? Increased revenue? Reduced costs? Improved customer experience? Made their employees more productive?
The second mistake is related to data. While people tend to concentrate on the model, which is the most tangible component of the whole thing, data quality, system integration, and processes may play a much more important role.
And the third mistake is the lack of clear ownership of an AI capability. Someone should be responsible for bringing that capability from an experimentation stage into a business process.
What would success look like for an AI economy such as Saudi Arabia's or India's?
James Lloyd: I think you'd judge it on results, not on announcements.
How many global companies have been formed? How many patents are being generated in the country? Is academia doing relevant research? Are locals behind relevant AI products?
But most important, is AI helping the economy and creating more jobs than it destroys?
Because if AI makes healthcare better, logistics more efficient, retail more personalized, banking smarter and government services more accessible, then there is true economic value being created.
There is also the other question is it making for a more balanced economy, or is it just concentrating wealth in the hands of a few?
And the goal isn't to be a nation that uses AI. It is to be a nation that invents and designs and builds it.
The UK offers decades of institutional and commercial experience. Saudi Arabia offers the ability to build at an enormous scale. India offers tech talent, entrepreneurial energy and one of the world's biggest digital economies.
The interesting thing isn't which one wins. It is what happens when all of them start working together.
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