The third edition of the Dubai AI Festival will conclude today, October 27, at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC). Organised by Dubai AI Campus at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the two-day event was themed “Where Intelligence Meets Opportunity”.
A Festival Made For Scale
Over 150 speakers, 500 investors and 200 exhibitors from more than 100 countries attended the festival. Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum directed the event, which was held in partnership with the office of the UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence.
From the Lab to Real World Use
The agenda moved from pilot projects to practical deployment in the Middle East and further afield. Key topics included agentic AI, meaning systems that can accomplish tasks with minimal human input. Others were digital infrastructure, regulation, investment trends and upskilling the workforce.
Who Participated
Organisers named participants as Amazon Web Services, Alibaba Cloud, Mistral AI, Mubadala, Snowflake and Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). Speakers included Paul Newman from Oxa, Trevor Thompson from Scale AI and Sanjog Gupta, CEO of the International Cricket Council.
Festival Launch
A UAE-based legal platform, Legaline, has launched the “Meta Legal Space”, which it claims is the region’s first AI-enabled courtroom simulation for law students and legal interns. According to Archyde, Zawya reported the launch.
India’s Presence
Chennai Online reported that Indian companies in AI, cybersecurity, enterprise automation and computer vision were on display. Telangana IT minister Dudla Sridhar Babu was also among the speakers.
Governance And Trust
The sessions also included data privacy, cybersecurity and responsible AI. Businesses want to deploy AI at scale, but they want clear rules and protections.
The festival has been moved from its usual April date to October, and organisers say tickets can be transferred to the 2027 edition. For Dubai, the event is an extension of its push to become a global hub for AI investment and policy.
