Dubai AI Festival 2026 will bring together policymakers, technology leaders, investors and founders at Dubai World Trade Centre on October 26 and 27, as the third edition looks at the forces shaping the next era of artificial intelligence.
Organised by Dubai AI Campus at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in partnership with the Office of the UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, the event is held under the directives of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai. It supports the emirate’s ambition to strengthen its position as a global hub for innovation, technology and the digital economy.
Running under the theme “Where Intelligence Meets Opportunity”, the festival will connect the companies building AI, the enterprises deploying it, the investors funding it and the policymakers governing it. Two days of discussions will cover global AI governance, agentic AI, enterprise transformation, computing infrastructure, investment trends, ethics, AI literacy and the future of work, along with applications across financial services, government, healthcare and industry.
Arif Amiri, Chief Executive Officer of DIFC Authority, said AI is rapidly becoming one of the defining drivers of economic growth, competitiveness and productivity. He said the festival reflects Dubai’s ambition to lead in the technologies shaping the future.
Attendees from more than 100 countries are expected, alongside over 150 speakers, 500 investors and 200 exhibitors.
Speakers include Arvind Jain of Glean, Hussain Sajwani of DAMAC Properties, Mati Staniszewski of ElevenLabs, Peng Xiao of G42 and Trevor Thompson of Scale AI. Government representatives include Qubad Talabani, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, and Salem Humaid Al Marri of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre.
Participating organisations include Amazon Web Services, Alibaba Cloud, Mistral AI, Mubadala, Snowflake and RTA.
News Source: Emirates News Agency
