The Top AI Conferences To Attend In 2026

Yes, that’s right… We called it. Artificial intelligence exploded in 2025. Faster, smarter, and more transformative than anyone expected. But here’s the exciting part: 2026 is set to be even bigger. With groundbreaking advancements, new regulations, and rapid innovation across every industry, the upcoming year is poised to be a milestone for AI.

So the real question is: which AI conferences should you attend in 2026 to stay ahead of the curve, spot emerging trends, and see where the future of AI is heading?

We’ve done the work for you. Below is a curated list of the must-attend AI conferences of 2026. These are the events that deserve a place in your diary if you want to stay at the forefront of this ever-evolving field.

The 40th Annual AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence

20 - 27 January | Singapore

Can you believe the AAAI Conference is in its fortieth year? Just think of all the advancements this event has seen over the years and how research from this very event has been developed, created, and utilised during those four decades. So, you guessed it, you do not want to miss the opportunity to be present at this institutional conference.

On this year's week-long agenda, you can expect to network and exchange scientific AI knowledge between researchers, practitioners, students, scientists and engineers; in the form of workshops, invited speakers, technical paper presentations, tutorials, poster sessions, competitions, exhibits and more.

This year's theme is ’to create collaborative bridges’ within and beyond the AI world, while also emphasising the importance of responsible AI and AI for social impact, hearing from the following speakers:

Dr. Peter Stone - holds the Truchard Foundation Chair in Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the Chair of the Computer Science Department and the Founding Director of Texas Robotics.
Bowen Zhou - Director and Chief Scientist of Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
Dr. Yolanda Gil - Fellow at the Information Sciences Institute of the University of Southern California, where she serves as Senior Director of AI and Data Science Initiatives and Director of the Centre on Artificial Intelligence for Health.
Katerina Fragkiadaki is the JPMorgan Chase Associate Professor in the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University.
And more.

Why else should you attend?

Sheer breadth of AI: Great if you want to see beyond just “LLMs and GenAI” and into the rest of the AI toolbox.
Networking across academia and industry: Strong mix of researchers, big-tech labs and applied AI teams.
Tutorials + workshops: Deep dives into hot topics (RL, agents, safety, XAI), ideal for levelling up quickly.

To get your tickets and find out more, please head over to the AAAI website.

AI & Big Data Expo

4 - 5 February, London | 18 - 19 May, California | 20 - 21 October, Amsterdam

Back with a triple whammy of AI conferences for 2026, the AI & Big Data Expo know how to put on an AI conference across the globe.

London will be their flagship event and sits within the wider TechEx Global show.

It’s the perfect event for ambitious enterprise leaders who want to learn/implement, and network with like-minded individuals from across many different sectors.

Sessions will include:

Sector Deep AI & Big Data applications and disruption – real-world deployments in finance, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, energy and more.
Platforms for AI, big data & automation – data platforms, pipelines, MLOps and infrastructure.
The AI & Big Data roadmap: strategy, regulation & the future enterprise – governance, AI regulation (including EU AI Act-style themes), operating models and skills.
Generative AI & intelligent interfaces – LLMs, copilots, chatbots and multimodal interfaces.
AI developer: from prototype to production – engineering patterns, tooling, deployment and monitoring.

There are over 200 speakers confirmed for this year's events, some of whom include:

Konstantina Kapetanidi – VP, Global Data Solutions & Head of Data Science, Europe, Visa
Chrissie Kemp – Chief Data & AI Officer, Jaguar Land Rover
Bernard Ruyssen – Chief Data & AI Officer, AXA
Paul Yates – CIO, ING
Mara Pometti – Director AI and Data Strategy, Mastercard

There will also be a packed exhibition at each event, featuring over 150 businesses ready to showcase their latest AI technology, ranging from platforms to tools and services.

You need to attend if you want to expand upon AI model architectures, because at this event there will be talks around AI roadmaps, ROI and regulations, as well as being able to network with a vast array of people from across many different industries, including finance, automotive, hospitality, telecoms, pharma and more.

To find out more about the London event, and to see what’s on the agenda for the California and Amsterdam shows, take a look at their website.

Global AI Show 2026

9 - 10 February | Riyadh

The Global AI Show is a major international AI conference and exhibition that brings together those in the AI sphere from across the globe into one place. You can expect start-ups, enterprises, researchers, media, policymakers, governments, and others to attend the show, offering a truly cross-sectoral view of where AI is heading.

This year's theme is “AI 2030: Accelerating Intelligent Futures” and aims to be the event for business, technology, innovation and policy in a “marketplace, thinktank and networking format”.

There are expected to be around 10,000 attendees, featuring 250 speakers and over 200 exhibitors. The event will include various sessions, such as panel discussions, workshops, keynote speakers, networking zones, and cross-section discussions, covering topics including gaming, blockchain, AI, and digital transformation, as well as investor/start-up matchmaking. There really is a lot happening at the 2026 Global AI Show.

There’s a plethora of speakers for you to choose from, including:

Latifa Al Shehhi - Chief AI Officer, Ministry of Investment
Dr. Vincent Mateu - Chief Researcher & Development Officer - Saudi Credit Bureau - SIMAH
H.E. Dr. Mohamed Al Kuwaiti - Head of Cyber Security, United Arab Emirates Government
H. E. Eng. Amal Abdulrahim - Assistant Undersecretary & Chief AI/Innovation Officer, UAE, Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.

To find out more, take a look at the Global AI Show website.

IEEE Conference on Artifical Intelligence 2026

8 - 10 May | Granada, Spain

The IEEE Conference on Artificial Intelligence (CAI) is one of the most academically rigorous yet industry-aware AI events of 2026. The conference brings together researchers, engineers, policymakers and enterprise innovators to explore how AI techniques are transforming real-world systems.

This is the event to attend if you want in-depth, cross-disciplinary AI knowledge that goes beyond hype and into real-world applications. It will dive into the most meaningful and emerging challenges in applied AI, including:

Healthcare & Life Sciences – medical diagnostics, AI-driven clinical decision support, biomedical modelling.
Human-Robot Collaboration – intelligent robotics, teleoperation, and human-in-the-loop intelligent systems.
Sustainable & Trustworthy AI – climate-aware AI, ethics, risk, fairness, explainability and alignment.
Business Intelligence & Finance – modelling for risk, forecasting, fraud detection and automated insights.
Generative & Agentic AI Models – LLMs, multimodal models, autonomous agents and AI in education.
Immersive Technologies – AI for VR/AR, simulation, multimedia systems and remote control interfaces.

The 2026 speaker lineup includes world-class researchers and innovators shaping the future of AI:

Ramesh Raskar – MIT Media Lab | Pioneer in computational imaging & AI
Marcos López de Prado – Cornell University / ADIA Lab | Global leader in AI for quantitative finance
Robert Kozma – University of Memphis | Expert in complex systems & neural computation
Enrique Herrera-Viedma – University of Granada | Influential researcher in decision-making & AI governance
Carmen Nestares – Amazon | Senior AI & technology leader, CAI General Co-Chair

Attendees can look forward to cutting-edge research presentations, peer-reviewed papers showcasing new AI techniques, models, frameworks and applications. Plus, hands-on workshops & tutorials, practical sessions on human-robot collaboration, generative AI, trustworthy AI, and more.

Let’s not forget the fantastic global networking opportunities, where you can connect with academics, enterprise leaders, government agencies and AI practitioners from across the world.

If you want to attend an AI conference that bridges academia and industry, then the CAI is the event for you as it blends theory, application and engineering seamlessly.

To learn more, visit their website.

Ai4

4 - 6 August | Las Vegas, USA

Widely regarded as the ‘epicentre of the global AI community’, Ai4 is back in August for their leading AI conference, bringing together technology leaders and business executives to help shape and unite the future of AI.

At America’s largest AI conference, you’ll be able to explore breakthrough advancements, real-world applications, and the proven best practices that are driving AI forward across all sectors. You’ll see the latest and future ongoings with Generative AI and AI Agents to new World Models and lots more.

In addition to a dazzling exhibition, you can expect sessions to be delivered to you via presentations, track sessions, and keynote speakers. Speaking of keynote speakers, there were over 1,000 speakers at their 2025 conference, so you can look forward to a varied range of speakers to hear from in 2026.

Previous speakers have included:

Geoffrey Hinton - the Godfather of AI
Fei-Fei Li - the Godmother of AI
Yogi Pillay - OpenAI
JoAnn Stonier - Fellow of Data & AI, Mastercard

Although the conference program and speaker lineup are awaiting confirmation, this really is an AI event you need to attend, so you can network with and explore how AI is developing across all industries.

To keep up to date with Ai4’s latest news, take a look at their website.

The International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence and European Conference on Artifical Intelligence | IJCAI-ECAI 2026

15 - 21 August | Bremen, Germany

Widely regarded as the ‘premier international gathering of researchers in AI’, this year's IJCAI-ECAI is joining together once more and, in its 35th year, will be one of the AI events of the year, hosted in Germany.

It’s one of the more well-established conferences that has been leading the way for AI development for over three decades. It’s fair to say that this event has truly seen the rise and the continual upward trajectory of artificial intelligence.

The programme itself has yet to be released, but we do know that the following areas will be discussed, through various forms such as peer-reviewed papers, workshops, keynotes, and tutorials:

Human-Centered AI
AI for Social Good
AI4Tech: AI Enabling Critical Technologies
AI and Health
AI and Robotics

Just like previous years, there will be experts delivering their presentations/work to the expected 2000-3000 attendees, mainly consisting of academics, students, researchers, and leading industry professionals, with ample opportunity to network and explore the conference’s exhibition, as well as the presentation for the 2026 Award for Research Excellence, and many of the other awards up for grabs.

For more information and to purchase your tickets, please visit their website.

World Summit AI

7 - 8 October | Amsterdam

In its 10th year, the World Summit AI is back in 2026 for a bumper event. Renowned for being the ‘epicentre’ of AI’s global transformation and conversation, the 2026 conference will continue to host the world’s leading AI minds, visionaries and innovators, looking to define AI’s legacy for the future.

World Summit AI has evolved into a platform where tech leaders unveil their latest AI services and products. With a three-year waiting list for innovators to unveil their AI products at this show, the World Summit AI stage is one of the most competitive spaces to be on, with the who’s who of AI in attendance, eagerly anticipating the next incredible AI product or service to launch. This event is one where networking and AI newness go hand in hand, with quite possibly the largest gathering of the global AI ecosystem.

So who attends this enormous AI event? Everyone within an AI role. From your data scientists/analysts, developers and software engineers, to founders, CEO’s, directors, EVPs, Heads of AI, Professors, Students and many more. It’s a golden opportunity to meet the extraordinary minds behind AI.

The speaker list has yet to be announced, so to stay up to date with all the latest developments of World Summit AI, please visit their website.

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