Asset managers, technology companies, government officials and investors from more than 60 countries are set to gather in Abu Dhabi in October as the emirate seeks to translate its growing investments in artificial intelligence into wider economic and public-sector gains.

AI Everything Abu Dhabi, scheduled for October 6–7 at the ADNEC Centre, is expected to bring together more than 400 AI infrastructure companies, model developers, startups and unicorns, alongside over 200 investors managing a combined $91 billion in assets.

The gathering comes as Abu Dhabi accelerates efforts to position AI at the centre of its government services, digital infrastructure and economic development strategy.

“Abu Dhabi will become the world’s first AI-native government next year, and the evidence is already clear in the way we’re redefining public services for millions of people and businesses,” Wesam Lootah, Director General of GovDigital at the Department of Government Enablement, said.

“We have built the blueprint,” Lootah added, saying the emirate intends to demonstrate how intelligent governance can operate at scale.

Global AI Spending Heads Towards $2.59tn

More than 180 speakers are expected at the summit, including Mistral AI Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Arthur Mensch and Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert.

Their discussions are expected to cover sovereign AI, emerging technology alliances and the expanding industrial applications of artificial intelligence.

The event comes amid a surge in global AI investment. Businesses and governments are expected to spend approximately $2.59 trillion on AI in 2026, representing a 47 per cent increase from 2025, according to Gartner.

For Abu Dhabi, the expansion presents an opportunity to build economic capacity around computing infrastructure, AI research, enterprise applications and government services.

More than 50 UAE government entities are expected to participate in the conference, led by Abu Dhabi’s Department of Government Enablement.

The department is overseeing the emirate’s ambition to become what it describes as the world’s first AI-native government by 2027.

More than 40 government entities have already been brought into a single AI-driven ecosystem, with over 100 AI use cases operating across public services. The broader programme is supported by an investment of approximately $3.54 billion.

Private Sector Expands AI Infrastructure

The government-led strategy is being complemented by investment from technology and infrastructure companies.

Solutions+, a Mubadala company and global partner of the event, is focusing on the practical deployment of AI across organisations and public services.

“At Solutions+, we help bridge national ambition with operational delivery by bringing together sovereign infrastructure, enterprise platforms, trusted partners, and the expertise required to embed AI into real services and workflows,” Solutions+ Managing Director Nasir Al Nabhani said.

Al Nabhani said agentic AI, supported by human oversight and accountability, could improve service delivery, increase productivity and generate measurable economic value.

Abu Dhabi-based technology group G42 is also promoting an “Intelligence Grid”, combining computing infrastructure, platforms, AI agents and governance frameworks to support wider adoption of artificial intelligence.

“An AI-native society takes shape when intelligence becomes something people can depend on: getting care, running a business, accessing a public service,” G42 Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Faheem Ahamed said.

Global Technology Companies Head to Abu Dhabi

The conference is expected to feature companies spanning semiconductors, cloud computing, enterprise software and AI infrastructure.

Participants include AWS, Alibaba Cloud, Cerebras, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle and Snowflake.

According to the organisers, companies listed as exhibitors have a combined market capitalisation exceeding $10 trillion.

The scale of participation reflects the increasing competition among governments and businesses to secure computing capacity, AI models, talent and infrastructure as adoption expands beyond experimental applications.

AI Everything Chief Executive Officer Trixie LohMirmand said the industry was increasingly shifting its attention from the potential of AI towards measurable applications across industries and public services.

“Beyond the speculative sheen of AI, its true impact lies in transforming science, services and society,” she said.

Abu Dhabi Showcases Homegrown AI Research

Abu Dhabi will also use the event to showcase locally developed artificial intelligence technologies.

The Technology Innovation Institute, the applied research arm of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council, is expected to present 23 demonstrations from nine research centres.

Among the technologies is GeoAI, a machine-learning model designed to map subsurface geology in the northern UAE and support mineral exploration.

The institute will also showcase research covering energy, advanced materials, marine infrastructure, aerospace and autonomous systems.

Its Falcon family of large language models forms another component of Abu Dhabi’s AI strategy.

Falcon-H1 Arabic, which was trained on Arabic-language data using a purpose-built architecture, is ranked at the top of the Open Arabic LLM Leaderboard, according to the institute.

Investors Target Growing AI Companies

The conference will also provide investors with access to emerging and established AI companies seeking to expand internationally.

French artificial intelligence company Mistral AI is participating in the event for the first time after recently raising €3 billion, or approximately $3.49 billion, in a Series D funding round.

The transaction valued the company at more than €21 billion, equivalent to approximately $24.42 billion.

“Control is becoming the defining topic in AI adoption,” Mistral AI Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa Mohamed Zouari said.

Zouari said the company was working with organisations in Abu Dhabi to develop greater control over AI infrastructure and deployment, with some of those capabilities expected to be demonstrated at the event.

With governments and companies committing increasing amounts of capital to artificial intelligence, Abu Dhabi is positioning itself as both a major investor in the technology and a testing ground for its large-scale deployment.

The October gathering is expected to showcase how the emirate is combining public investment, private-sector infrastructure, research capabilities and international partnerships as it seeks to convert rapid AI adoption into productivity gains and longer-term economic growth.