On 6 October, I visited AI Everything Abu Dhabi 2026. It was a decent day out: plenty of speakers, big companies showcasing their innovations, and startups exploring how AI could fit into specific parts of our lives and work.

What stayed with me was the variety. There were tools for content generation, finance, auditing, financial decision-making and legal work. Other companies were exploring health and wellbeing, from symptom management to healthy habits and circadian rhythms.

Walking around the exhibition gave me a better sense of how much is happening beyond the AI chatbots we use every day.

AWS and a robot with a pen

AWS was once again one of my highlights, with plenty of experiments and demos to explore.

My favourite was a robotic arm that could sketch a portrait from a photograph. The photo was converted into line art, which the arm then drew on paper. Watching a digital image become a physical drawing was fascinating.

I have a photo of this demo to share alongside the blog. It was one of those moments where you could see several technologies working together and immediately understand the result.

More specialised AI and more conversations about trust

Many startups were building AI for particular professions and industries. Finance, auditing and legal services stood out to me, especially because these are areas where accuracy, confidentiality and accountability matter.

I also noticed several AI governance providers. Their tools focused on guardrails and on helping organisations establish rules around how AI should operate.

A term I learned during the visit was ontology. My beginner’s understanding is that it defines the concepts within a subject and the relationships between them. For example, in a business, a customer places an order, an order contains products, and an invoice relates to that order.

That made me think more about the information behind AI: how it is organised, connected and given meaning.

Sovereign AI was another theme I encountered, raising questions about who controls the technology and where data is stored and processed.

Cerebras: a demo that made speed feel real

One of the most memorable booths I visited was Cerebras, a company developing specialised computing systems for AI.

In the comparison I watched, the Cerebras-powered system appeared to generate code for a game and begin running it while the other system was still processing the request. The difference was striking.

I don’t have the technical details of the comparison, so I wouldn’t turn it into a general claim about how much faster one chip is than another. But as a visitor watching the demo, I was fascinated.

It made me wonder how much faster responses could change the experience of using AI particularly when building something that requires several rounds of instructions and revisions.

Plenty more on my reading list

Mistral had an impressive booth, showcasing its focus on sovereign AI, helping organisations retain control over their data and technology. I also discovered Khazna, which develops data centers supporting AI and digital infrastructure. Both are now on my list to explore further.

Voice technology could be especially interesting for storytelling, narration and content creation.

Several banks were showcasing their innovations, and Etisalat also had a booth. Companies from Sweden and the wider Nordic region brought more examples of AI and robotics to explore.

Good exposure, with room to go deeper

The talks I attended felt quite high level. They offered a broad introduction to AI, but I would have liked more practical detail.

I couldn’t attend the workshops, so I can’t comment on those. Next year, I would like to make time for hands-on sessions or specialised training in building AI agents and agentic workflows.

There was also a lovely personal moment: meeting my former colleague Georgina after six years. That catch-up was a refreshing part of a day filled with technology.

Overall, I came away with new terms, memorable demos and a longer reading list. From my experience, this is a useful event for someone beginning to explore AI, or considering how to introduce it into an organisation.