Dubai launches a global AI agents championship with more than AED 2.5 million in prizes
IA en un minuto newsroom · Editor: Jon Elgezabal
In 30 seconds
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed has unveiled the Create AI Agents Championship, which swaps apps for AI programs able to act on their own. Individuals or teams from any country can compete, with no technical or age requirements, starting from an idea or a fledgling product. It hands out four awards of AED 550,000 and a top one of AED 1 million, and the deadline is December 2026.
Dubai's Crown Prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, announced the Create AI Agents Championship on Wednesday, October 7: a competition to build AI agents (systems that carry out tasks on their own) that address real needs.
It is a new vision for the Create Apps Championship, Dubai's app competition, which drew 15,564 applications from 153 countries across its three editions. It is run by the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy.
It is open to people worldwide, from technical and non-technical backgrounds, with no minimum age. Individuals and teams can enter with an idea, a prototype or an early-stage MVP. Existing businesses may submit a new AI-agent solution or capability, but fully commercialised solutions are not eligible.
There are four categories: Best Societal AI Agent, Best Personal AI Agent, Best Business AI Agent, for public and private organisations, and Best Youth AI Agent, for under-21s. Each category winner receives AED 550,000 to keep developing their agent, and one of the four will be named "AI Agent of the Year", with AED 1 million. The total prize pool exceeds AED 2.5 million, more than $680,000 according to The National.
Registration is already open on the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy website and closes in December 2026. Three introductory workshops will follow and, in November, a Digital Academy with four advanced courses, four practical workshops and mentorship sessions. Entrants must submit an AI-agent prototype, a pitch deck and a demo video.
Why it matters · analysis and opinion
The shift says a lot about the moment: Dubai no longer rewards apps but programs that carry out tasks by themselves, and frames it within its plan for the emirate's businesses to adopt agents ahead of everyone else. Opening it to people who do not code widens the talent pool, but the championship does not stop at whether the agent works: it asks entrants to measure its impact and explore whether it can become a business. Excluding fully commercialised solutions steers it toward early-stage projects, exactly where support is hardest to find. Anyone with a concrete idea will find in the workshops, the academy and the mentoring a way to validate it before pitching, and the deadline leaves room to prepare the prototype and the video calmly.
Official source: Dubai Media Office · Written with the help of AI: how we make the news
