The third edition of the festival takes place at Dubai World Trade Centre on October 26 and 27.
Dubai will host the third edition of the Dubai AI Festival next week, bringing together policymakers, technology leaders, investors and startups to discuss where artificial intelligence is heading.
The two-day event takes place on October 26 and 27 at Dubai World Trade Centre. It is organized by Dubai AI Campus at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
Participants from more than 100 countries are expected to attend, alongside more than 150 speakers, 500 investors and 200 exhibitors, Economy Middle East reported.
The festival was first announced for April 2026 as part of Dubai AI Week, before being rescheduled to October. Delegates who had already registered had their passes moved to the new dates.
Who Is Speaking at the Dubai AI Festival 2026
The speaker list brings together leaders from government, finance, telecommunications and the global AI industry.
From the UAE, confirmed speakers include Arif Amiri, CEO of DIFC Authority; Peng Xiao, Group CEO of Abu Dhabi-based technology company G42; Fahad Al Hassawi, CEO of du; and Hussain Sajwani, founder and chairman of DAMAC Group.
Salem Humaid Al Marri, Director General of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, and Younus Al Nasser, CEO of the Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment at Digital Dubai, are also on the program, along with Dr. Hakim Hacid, Chief Researcher at Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute, Dr. Marwan Alzarouni, Chief AI Officer at Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, and Xi Liang, Chief AI Officer at Mashreq.
International speakers include Arvind Jain, CEO of enterprise AI company Glean; Trevor Thompson, Global Managing Director of Scale AI; Matt White, Global CTO of AI at the Linux Foundation; Alex Aliper, co-founder and president of Insilico Medicine; Mario Nobile, Director General of the Agency for Digital Italy; Professor Paul Newman, founder and CEO of autonomous vehicle software company Oxa; and Ramez Shehadi, Global Chair of Digital, Analytics and AI at Kearney.
Sessions are set to cover how AI is changing industries, shaping economies and driving investment, along with workshops, roundtables and opportunities for startups to meet investors.
Dubai’s Growing Role as an AI Hub
The festival has grown quickly since it began. Its second edition, held at Madinat Jumeirah in 2025, welcomed more than 10,000 visitors. For this year, organizers moved the event to the larger Dubai World Trade Centre, and when the third edition was first announced in November 2025, they said they expected more than 20,000 attendees.
Announcing the expansion last year, Arif Amiri described the festival as “a powerful reflection of Dubai’s ambition to lead the global dialogue on AI.” He said the move to Dubai World Trade Centre “stands as clear evidence of the growing international interest” in the event.
“We are building the infrastructure to attract global talent, foster innovation, and shape the future of AI from Dubai,” he added.
The festival is held in partnership with the office of the UAE’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications.
The UAE became the first country in the world to appoint a minister for artificial intelligence in October 2017, when Omar Sultan Al Olama was named to the role. The country has since set out a National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031, which aims to make the country a global leader in the field by 2031, including through the use of AI in government services, education and the wider economy.
