The back half of 2026 is the busiest AI event season of the year, and most of it is the global expo circuit rather than the research one. September through December brings GITEX AI Turkiye in Istanbul, GITEX AI Vietnam in Hanoi, World Summit AI in Amsterdam, Web Summit in Lisbon, AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas, NeurIPS in Sydney, and the flagship GITEX Global in Dubai. NVIDIA GTC, the year's marquee industry event, already happened in March. Here is the full calendar with confirmed dates, venues, and known speakers.
2026 has been the busiest year for AI events yet, and the second half is where the calendar really fills up. If you are planning travel or just want to know what is coming, this is the map. We have grouped everything by month and marked what has already happened, because a calendar that pretends everything is still upcoming is useless in August. Every date and venue here comes from official sources. Where an event is known for particular speakers, we name them. Where a lineup has not been announced, we do not invent one.
September to December 2026: the busy season
GITEX AI Turkiye 2026
The inaugural Turkish edition of GITEX, the world's largest tech exhibition brand, and a major arrival for the Eurasian tech scene. Organizers expect more than 15,000 visitors, 500-plus exhibitors, and 150-plus speakers from over 70 countries. Hosted by the Investment Office of the Presidency of Turkiye and backed by the Ministry of Industry and Technology, it spans AI, cybersecurity, fintech, e-commerce, data centres, and digital investment. For anyone working across the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, this is the regional event to watch this year. Speaker lineup was still being announced at review time, so we will add names as they are confirmed rather than guess.
The AI Conference 2026
A practitioner-first gathering built around five tracks: AGI, large language models, agentic AI, infrastructure, and applied AI. Organizers put attendance at more than 5,500 builders, researchers, and leaders, with 120-plus speakers. The waterfront venue at Pier 48 sits beside Oracle Park in the Mission Rock district. This one leans technical and light on vendor pitches, which makes it a favorite for engineers actually shipping models.
GITEX AI Vietnam 2026
Another new GITEX edition, this one for Southeast Asia, organized by KAOUN International with the Dubai World Trade Centre and Vietnam's National Innovation Center, and supported by the country's Ministries of Finance and of Science and Technology. A strong signal of how fast the GITEX expo model is spreading across emerging tech markets.
World Summit AI 2026
A tenth-anniversary edition of one of Europe's defining AI gatherings, weighted toward enterprise adoption and EU governance. If your interest is where regulation and deployment meet, this is the European anchor.
Web Summit 2026
One of the largest cross-industry technology events in the world, where AI startups and giants compete for attention across a sprawling program. Less an AI-only event than a place where the whole industry shows up, which is exactly its value for networking and spotting what is about to break out.
AWS re:Invent 2026
Amazon's giant cloud conference, and one of the most important enterprise technology events globally. The AI and machine-learning announcements here shape what a huge slice of the industry can build on top of cloud infrastructure for the following year.
NeurIPS 2026
The fortieth Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, and the single most important research venue on the calendar. This is where the papers that reshape foundation models, reinforcement learning, AI safety, and multimodal systems appear before they reach products. The move to Sydney for the main event is notable in itself, with satellite gatherings in Atlanta and Paris on overlapping dates. If you track where the field is genuinely heading rather than where the marketing is, this is the room.
GITEX GLOBAL 2026
The flagship of the entire GITEX network and the world's largest tech and AI show, now in its fifth decade. Its "AI Everything" segment spotlights startups, government AI initiatives, and infrastructure providers from across emerging markets. Confirmed speakers include Andrew Feldman (CEO, Cerebras Systems), Sanjay Poonen (CEO and President, Cohesity), Jim Keller (CEO, Tenstorrent), and Dr. Peter Koerte (CTO and board member, Siemens AG). For the Middle East and international readership, this is the December centrepiece.
NeurIPS Sydney (Dec 6 to 12) and GITEX Global Dubai (Dec 7 to 11) overlap almost exactly, and they could not be more different. One is the world's top research conference, the other the world's largest commercial tech expo. If you are choosing, pick by whether you need the research roadmap or the business and regional network. You genuinely cannot do both.
Already happened earlier in 2026
Worth knowing what set the agenda earlier in the year, because the announcements from these events are shaping every roadmap through to 2027.
NVIDIA GTC 2026
The year's defining industry event. More than 30,000 attendees from over 190 countries, 1,000-plus sessions, and 2,000 speakers. Jensen Huang, NVIDIA's founder and CEO, delivered the two-hour keynote on March 16 to a sold-out arena, framing AI as essential infrastructure rather than a single breakthrough and marking CUDA's twentieth anniversary. Huang also hosted a discussion on open frontier models with leaders from a16z, AI2, Black Forest Labs, Cursor, Reflection AI, and Thinking Machines Lab. GTC 2027 is already set for San Jose, March 15 to 18.
AAAI 2026
The year opened with the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence bringing the global research community together in Singapore to debate advances in AI theory and practice. A research-anchored event that sets intellectual groundwork the applied conferences build on later in the year.
AI Summit London 2026
The flagship event of London Tech Week, marking its tenth anniversary, with more than 5,000 attendees across ten stages. Focused on commercial AI deployment in financial services, healthcare, and the public sector, it is the UK's biggest applied-AI gathering.
SuperAI 2026
The Asia-Pacific region's big industry gathering, with 10,000-plus attendees, many of them C-level, and 150-plus speakers. Partners span the largest AI companies in the world. The regional anchor for enterprise adoption in Asia.
GITEX AI Europe 2026
GITEX's European edition, more expo than conference, with 30,000-plus attendees and around 1,400 exhibitors across co-located events on cybersecurity, quantum, and startups. Programme tracks this year included AI stack sovereignty and cyber regulation.
RAISE Summit 2026
A high-level enterprise gathering, 9,000-plus attendees with roughly 80 percent at C-level, heavy on agentic systems, sovereign AI, and enterprise ROI. One of the best rooms in Europe for meeting frontier labs and infrastructure providers.
ICML 2026
The International Conference on Machine Learning is, alongside NeurIPS, one of the two peer-reviewed venues that set the research agenda. Its Outstanding Paper awards this year went to work on diffusion language models and high-accuracy sampling.
The 2026 calendar at a glance
| Event | Dates | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| AAAI 2026 | Jan 20 to 27 | Singapore | Wrapped |
| NVIDIA GTC 2026 | Mar 16 to 19 | San Jose, USA | Wrapped |
| AI Summit London | Jun 10 to 11 | London, UK | Wrapped |
| SuperAI 2026 | Jun 10 to 11 | Singapore | Wrapped |
| GITEX AI Europe | Jun 30 to Jul 1 | Berlin, Germany | Wrapped |
| RAISE Summit | Jul 8 to 9 | Paris, France | Wrapped |
| GITEX AI Turkiye | Sep 9 to 10 | Istanbul, Turkiye | Upcoming |
| The AI Conference | Sep 29 to Oct 1 | San Francisco, USA | Upcoming |
| GITEX AI Vietnam | Oct 1 to 2 | Hanoi, Vietnam | Upcoming |
| World Summit AI | Oct 8 to 9 | Amsterdam, NL | Upcoming |
| Web Summit | November | Lisbon, Portugal | Upcoming |
| AWS re:Invent | Nov 30 to Dec 4 | Las Vegas, USA | Upcoming |
| NeurIPS 2026 | Dec 6 to 12 | Sydney, Australia | Upcoming |
| GITEX GLOBAL | Dec 7 to 11 | Dubai, UAE | Upcoming |
How to choose, if you can only go to one
The calendar breaks into three kinds of event, and picking well matters more than picking big.
- Research venues (NeurIPS, ICML, AAAI) are where the next generation of models is defined, months before it reaches you. Go if you write papers or need to see the roadmap early.
- Global expos (the GITEX network, Web Summit, World Summit AI) are where regional ecosystems, government initiatives, and enterprise buyers meet. Go if you are doing business, raising money, or expanding into a new market.
- Platform and practitioner events (NVIDIA GTC, AWS re:Invent, The AI Conference) are where the infrastructure direction is set and deployment patterns are shared. Go if your work depends on the tools and the platforms.
Frequently asked questions
Which AI events are still happening in 2026?
As of August, the major ones still ahead are GITEX AI Turkiye in Istanbul (September 9 to 10), The AI Conference in San Francisco (September 29 to October 1), GITEX AI Vietnam in Hanoi (October 1 to 2), World Summit AI in Amsterdam (October 8 to 9), Web Summit in Lisbon (November), AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas (November 30 to December 4), NeurIPS in Sydney (December 6 to 12), and GITEX Global in Dubai (December 7 to 11).
When and where is GITEX AI Turkiye 2026?
September 9 to 10, 2026, at the Istanbul Expo Center. It is the inaugural Turkish edition of GITEX, hosted by the Investment Office of the Presidency of Turkiye, and expects more than 15,000 visitors and 150-plus speakers from over 70 countries across AI, cybersecurity, fintech, and more.
When is GITEX Global 2026 in Dubai?
December 7 to 11, 2026. It is the flagship of the GITEX network and the world's largest tech and AI show. Confirmed speakers include the CEOs of Cerebras Systems, Cohesity, and Tenstorrent, plus Siemens AG's CTO.
Where is NeurIPS 2026 being held?
The main conference is in Sydney, Australia, from December 6 to 12, with satellite events in Atlanta and Paris on overlapping dates. It is the fortieth edition and the most significant AI research conference of the year. Note that it overlaps almost exactly with GITEX Global in Dubai.
Which event is best for business rather than research?
The GITEX network and the big cross-industry summits. GITEX AI Turkiye and GITEX Global are strong for the Middle East, Europe, and Asia business ecosystem, Web Summit for cross-industry networking, and AWS re:Invent for the cloud and enterprise stack. The academic venues like NeurIPS are more useful for tracking research direction.
Are these dates final?
The dates and venues here are confirmed from official sources as of early August 2026, but programming and speaker lineups do change. Always verify on the event's own website before booking travel, especially for anything several months out.
Keep up with the tools these events launch
Every major AI event ships new models and products. Browse curated, tested AI tools on AISetApp and find the ones worth your time, without the conference-floor hype.
Explore more on AISetApp- GITEX official sites (gitexturkiye.com, gitex.com) and Biometric Update, Entrepreneur Middle East for GITEX AI Turkiye and GITEX Global dates and details
- NVIDIA Newsroom and GTC official pages, GTC 2026 details
- NeurIPS official site (neurips.cc), 2026 dates and location
- The AI Conference (aiconference.com); Crossmint and zPlatform AI event calendars for World Summit AI, Web Summit, RAISE, AI Summit London, AWS re:Invent
- Wikipedia and organizer sites for GITEX AI Vietnam and GITEX AI Europe
Dates confirmed as of August 5, 2026. Verify on official event sites before booking.