On 23 July 2025, the United States announced its AI Action Plan to cut down on regulation of developments and innovations in artificial intelligence (AI). This Plan comes two months after the US President’s tour in the Gulf where AI companies secured deals with Gulf governments. The call for deregulation comes in service of economic and national interests which sidesteps serious considerations for human rights, both in AI and in the Gulf.

One example of such investment is the Saudi-based company Humain, developed with leased data centre capacity from xAI. Humain is building a large-language model (LLM) like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. LLMs influence access to information online and also has influence over how people understand contemporary events. These models can also be used to generate smear or misinformation campaigns. Without human rights due diligence that provides well-defined safeguards, this investment in Humain will further restrict the online civic space and human rights advocacy.

The Plan also emphasises an AI race that is unrestricted by export controls. This is a concern for the protection of human rights in the MENA region in light of more than a decade-long advocacy to strengthen export controls, especially on cybersecurity technologies. These technologies have been systematically and repeatedly used to target, intimidate, and inflict harm on human rights activists, journalists, and academics. Augmenting these capacities for surveillance with AI creates further risks for human rights in this region. As the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) notes, “Human rights defenders are at the forefront protecting and promoting human rights – but they too need protection.”

Following the AI Action Summit hosted by the French government in February 2025, 64 countries signed the Statement on Inclusive and Sustainable Artificial Intelligence for People and the Planet. The Statement includes a commitment to AI development that is aligned with human rights. To a clear fault, the Statement excludes extending this alignment to military applications. However, among the non-signatories were the UK and the US. Only Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Jordan from the MENA region signed on the statement.

Oppressive governments in the MENA region including the Gulf states will be key actors in defining the trajectory for human rights due diligence and protections in AI. The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) expresses its concern over the shift to de-regulate the AI industry and the emphasis on development, trade and cooperation without commitments to human rights protections.