Dubai — The Dubai AI Retreat will now become an annual event, with the next edition set for April 29, 2025. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, made the announcement during his opening address on the first day of the inaugural retreat, signalling Dubai's long-term commitment to leading global artificial intelligence development.
Sheikh Hamdan Declares Dubai AI Retreat a Permanent Fixture
Speaking at the event, Sheikh Hamdan described the retreat as a platform to "reflect on the future of change through the use of Artificial Intelligence in different sectors." The AI Retreat sits under the Dubai Universal Blueprint for Artificial Intelligence — known as DUB.AI — organised by the Dubai Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DCAI) in collaboration with the National Programme for Artificial Intelligence.
Sheikh Hamdan called on Dubai's government leaders to harness AI to improve service delivery and future-readiness, emphasising a goal to "elevate AI's benefits to humanity by at least twice."
Over 2,500 Global Leaders Converge on Dubai
The inaugural Dubai AI Retreat drew more than 2,500 delegates — including major decision-makers, AI specialists, and tech executives from the world's largest companies. CEOs and senior leaders from Microsoft, IBM, Google, Amazon, Oracle, SAP, Nvidia, and Samsung attended alongside government officials and AI specialists from across multiple sectors.
The retreat saw the announcement of new strategies and partnerships between governments and businesses, underlining its ambition to be a working summit that produces actionable AI commitments.
22 Chief AI Officers Appointed Across Dubai Government
Sheikh Hamdan met with Dubai's newly appointed 22 Chief AI Officers — senior officials embedded across government entities whose mandate is to deploy AI in ways that measurably improve public services. The appointments reflect a structural shift in how Dubai's administration integrates emerging technology at leadership level.
Roundtables Cover Funding, Infrastructure, and Talent
The event's programme included roundtable discussions across four key pillars: Funding and Finance, Computing and Digital Infrastructure, Data Regulation and Policies, and Talent Ecosystem. These sessions were designed to surface the opportunities and obstacles in scaling AI adoption, with findings intended to inform the DUB.AI roadmap.
International technology companies also ran hands-on workshops to demonstrate the latest advances in AI tools and platforms.
du and Oracle Announce Strategic AI Partnership
Among the most significant announcements at the retreat was a strategic collaboration between UAE telecom operator du and Oracle. The partnership will deliver advanced AI and data solutions, with Oracle Alloy enabling du to offer more than 100 Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services alongside its own value-added applications — a move designed to strengthen Dubai's position as a global hub for AI-powered enterprise services.
Sheikh Hamdan closed by reaffirming that Dubai will remain a supportive environment for artificial intelligence programmes and a city built for invention and future design. With the Dubai AI Retreat now confirmed as an annual event, that commitment has a recurring institutional home.
