Software-as-a-Service solution arrives on Microsoft Marketplace at a time when AI trust is at a premium
SAS, a global leader in data and AI, has announced that SAS AI Navigator is now available in Saudi Arabia to help AI, data, compliance and risk leaders bring order to AI chaos. The new SaaS AI governance solution, available on Microsoft Marketplace, enables leaders to compile a complete AI inventory and align AI use cases with government regulations and internal policies. Organizations do not need to change how they build AI; SAS AI Navigator offers a unified view of the models and tools they already use, including LLMs, AI agents and open source or SAS models
Customers will receive free access to SAS AI Navigator for six months
“Trustworthy AI doesn’t happen by accident. It requires intention, transparency and the right governance structures from the start,” said Reggie Townsend, Vice President, SAS AI Ethics, Governance and Social Impact. “With SAS AI Navigator, organizations can create the visibility and accountability needed to use AI confidently, responsibly and at scale.”
Learn how to get started with SAS AI Navigator
AI governance becomes a growing priority
As Saudi Arabia accelerates AI adoption under national initiatives such as Saudi Vision 2030, the need for greater transparency, accountability and effective governance is becoming increasingly important.
The 2026 Data and AI Impact Report: The New Economics of Trust, a new SAS report with research insights from IDC, shows that organizations that get trust right are 15 times more likely to see strong returns on AI. The report also highlights a growing enterprise challenge: as AI becomes more autonomous, employees often override its recommendations when they cannot understand or explain how decisions were made
Findings from Saudi Arabia reinforce the importance of governance. 50.7% of organizations cited strategic alignment and governance as a priority, while 41.8% of respondents identified insufficient explanation as the leading reason for overriding AI recommendations.
“Saudi organizations are rapidly embracing AI to drive innovation, improve services and accelerate economic growth. The challenge now is ensuring that AI is deployed responsibly and at scale. SAS AI Navigator provides executives with a unified view of their AI landscape, helping them understand where AI is being used, who is accountable and how governance requirements are being met. This level of visibility is essential for organizations that want to accelerate AI adoption while maintaining trust, managing risk and supporting the Kingdom’s vision for a data-driven future,” said Asad Makki, Country Representative – Saudi Arabia, SAS
Bringing greater visibility to AI governance
SAS AI Navigator supports the full journey from experimentation to deployment through retirement, providing a unified view of all governed assets whether built in-house or purchased from third parties. SAS AI Navigator also makes it easy for users to apply internal policies and external regulations and frameworks to AI use cases.
Policy packs from SAS Partners such as Protiviti and Asenion offer customers out-of-the-box collections of compliance guidelines designed to help organizations quickly adopt new AI technologies responsibly. Instead of writing a complex company policy from scratch, policy packs provide ready-to-use questions and risk classifications that can be quickly applied to use cases.
Trust and AI governance are particularly critical in highly regulated industries like health care. Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC) in the Netherlands was an early tester of SAS AI Navigator, exploring its potential to support AI governance and policy oversight in health care.
Building on SAS’ longstanding partnership with Microsoft
The launch of SAS AI Navigator on Microsoft Marketplace complements SAS’ longstanding strategic partnership with Microsoft. The solution helps organizations manage AI use cases across different environments, including Microsoft Azure, while maintaining governance, transparency and trust
SAS AI Navigator is a standalone SaaS solution that works for SAS’ new or existing customers. It is the latest addition to a growing portfolio of SAS AI governance offerings designed to meet organizations where they are in their AI maturity. SAS has 50 years of experience helping customers deploy transformational technologies in a responsible manner, bringing this expertise to organizations looking to scale AI with greater confidence and accountability
