Dubai is putting serious money behind the idea that AI should do more than chat. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, the emirate’s Crown Prince, has launched the Create AI Agents Championship, a global competition with a prize pool of more than Dh2.5 million for people who can build AI agents that solve real problems rather than simply demo well.
The brief goes beyond the usual hackathon formula of shipping a clever app. Entrants are expected to pinpoint a pressing problem, design an AI-assisted system to tackle it, measure whether it actually works, and show a credible route to turning it into a commercial product or service. That focus on autonomous, task-driven systems mirrors where the wider industry is heading, as tech giants race to move their assistants from answering questions to completing work on a user’s behalf.
Entry is unusually open. There is no minimum age, no requirement for a technical background, and both individuals and teams can apply with anything from a rough idea to an early prototype. Established companies can enter too, provided they are presenting new capabilities. Anything already fully launched and sold commercially is ruled out, which keeps the field focused on early-stage work.
Entries fall into four categories. Societal agents should support areas such as education, inclusion, sustainability and community resilience. Personal agents target everyday life, productivity, health and decision-making. Business agents aim at improving workflows, services and customer experience across government and private organisations. A dedicated youth track is reserved for applicants aged 21 or under, with teams required to be led by an under-21 main applicant.
Each category winner receives a Dh550,000 grant to keep developing their project, while one of the four will be named AI Agent of the Year and take home Dh1 million. Based on the stated total, the top award appears to replace that winner’s category grant rather than add to it, though the full breakdown hasn’t been spelled out.
Registration is open now. Three introductory workshops come first, followed in November by a Digital Academy offering four advanced courses, four applied workshops and mentoring. Submissions close in December 2026 and must include a working prototype, a presentation and a demo video.
That leaves roughly ten weeks to go from idea to demonstrable agent, which is tight for first-time builders. Judging criteria, data rules and intellectual property terms will matter a great deal to serious contenders. The challenge also arrives alongside Dubai’s separate push to train thousands of local companies in everyday AI use. Whether it uncovers deployable products or just impressive demos will say a lot about how far the city’s AI ambitions can stretch.
