By Tala Ramadan and Jana Choukeir

DUBAI, May 12 (Reuters) - Crown Prince Mohammed bin

Salman launched a new company to develop and manage artificial

intelligence technologies in Saudi Arabia on Monday, a top

priority of its economic diversification drive.

U.S. President Donald Trump travels to Saudi Arabia this

week, the first stop on his Gulf tour, and AI is expected to be

a major discussion point during Tuesday's joint Saudi-U.S.

investment forum in Riyadh.

The kingdom, the world's biggest crude exporter, is

undergoing a significant economic and social transformation

under its Vision 2030 programme which aims to wean the economy

off its oil dependency.

It wants to develop AI technology and infrastructure -

including data centres - and has ambitions to establish the

kingdom as a global centre for AI, pitching itself as a

prospective hub for AI activity outside the United States.

Chaired by bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de facto leader,

the new company, Humain, will operate under the Public

Investment Fund, and offer AI services and products, including

data centres, AI infrastructure, cloud capabilities and advanced

AI models, the state news agency reported.

Earlier this year, cloud software seller Salesforce ( CRM )

said that it planned to invest $500 million in Saudi

Arabia related to artificial intelligence.