Top 10 AI Conferences to Attend in 2026 for AI Builders
TL;DR
2026 brings ten essential conferences for AI builders, spanning infrastructure, LLMs, and production deployment. From NVIDIA GTC in March (AI hardware and optimization) to World Summit AI in October (global AI ecosystem), each event targets different parts of the stack. Key picks: GTC for ML engineers, Google Cloud Next for platform builders, AI4 for enterprise case studies, and The AI Conference for hands-on LLM deployment patterns.
At a Glance: 2026 AI Conference Calendar
- February 4–5: AI & Big Data Expo Global (London)
- February 24: ProductCon (London)
- March 16–19: QCon London (London)
- March 16–19: NVIDIA GTC (San Jose)
- March 23–26: KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe (Amsterdam)
- April 22–24: Google Cloud Next (Las Vegas)
- May 20–22: World Data Summit (Malta)
- August 4–6: AI4 (Las Vegas)
- September 30–October 1: The AI Conference (San Francisco)
- October 7–8: World Summit AI (Amsterdam)
If you're bridging models to products, writing code, shipping features, building ML systems, 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year. These conferences go beyond what AI can do to how we build with it. Here are ten of the best gatherings for AI builders: engineers, ML product leads, and PMs who want to get hands-on, learn tools, meet peers, and leave with tangible ideas.
Below is a chronological guide to the top AI and developer-focused conferences in 2026, each offering a different lens on building with AI, from infrastructure and cloud platforms to LLMs and product design.
1. AI & Big Data Expo Global
📍 London | 4 – 5 February 2026
Best for: AI engineers, data scientists, and PMs building enterprise AI systems
Focus: Generative AI, MLOps, data infrastructure, and AI ethics
Hosted at London's Olympia, the AI & Big Data Expo is Europe's flagship enterprise AI event. Over 200 speakers and 150 exhibitors showcase real-world deployments of AI and data analytics across finance, healthcare, retail, and public services. Expect deep dives on responsible AI, edge deployment, and scaling data pipelines for ML products.
2. ProductCon (London)
📍 London | 24 February 2026
Best for: Product managers and technical leaders building AI-powered features
Focus: Product strategy, AI road-mapping, and cross-functional delivery
Run by Product School, ProductCon is a high-signal event for PMs working on AI initiatives. Talks cover how to integrate AI into user-facing features, measure impact, and coordinate with engineering teams. For PMs building AI into their product stack, this conference is dense with practical insights.
3. NVIDIA GTC 2026
📍 San Jose, CA | 16 – 19 March 2026
Best for: ML engineers, researchers, and developers working on model training and infrastructure
Focus: AI hardware, accelerated computing, robotics, and LLM optimization
Known as the "Woodstock of AI," GTC is NVIDIA's flagship developer conference. Expect hundreds of sessions on AI frameworks, CUDA, TensorRT, robotics, and agentic AI systems. It's where most builders learn what hardware and software innovations will define next-generation AI in production.
4. QCon London 2026
📍 London | 16 – 19 March 2026
Best for: Software engineers and technical PMs bridging AI and software architecture
Focus: Engineering AI systems, architecture patterns, and emerging tech
QCon is a deeply technical software conference that features a dedicated track for AI and ML builders. Sessions focus on how to integrate AI components into scalable, maintainable systems, from architecture choices to team structures and delivery pipelines.
5. KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe
📍 Amsterdam | 23 – 26 March 2026
Best for: Platform engineers, infra teams, and ML ops specialists
Focus: Cloud-native AI infrastructure and scalable ML deployment
The definitive gathering for Kubernetes and cloud-native technologies, KubeCon is now a key venue for discussions around AI at scale. Builders working on deployment, observability, and DevOps for machine-learning systems will find dozens of relevant sessions and hands-on labs.
6. Google Cloud Next 2026
📍 Las Vegas, NV | 22 – 24 April 2026
Best for: Developers and PMs building on Google Cloud and Vertex AI
Focus: Cloud AI services, GenAI APIs, and scalable model deployment
Cloud Next is Google's annual showcase of AI innovation on its platform. For AI builders using GCP or multi-cloud setups, this event is a front-row seat to new tools for training, deployment, and data governance across distributed systems.
7. World Data Summit
📍 Malta | 20 – 22 May 2026
Best for: Data engineers and AI builders focused on governance and data infrastructure
Focus: Data management, AI ethics, and metadata governance
The World Data Summit brings together leaders in data engineering and AI policy. It explores how teams can balance scalability with trust and compliance, critical themes for any builder shipping AI features that touch sensitive data.
8. AI4 2026
📍 Las Vegas, NV | 4 – 6 August 2026
Best for: Enterprise AI developers and startups deploying AI in production
Focus: Applied AI, generative AI, AI agents, and industry case studies
AI4 is one of North America's largest AI industry events, known for practical content and enterprise case studies. For builders, it's a chance to understand how production-level AI is implemented in finance, retail, and healthcare, and to benchmark your own stack against industry leaders.
9. The AI Conference (San Francisco)
📍 San Francisco, CA | 30 September – 1 October 2026
Best for: Developers and PMs at the intersection of AI research and product
Focus: LLMs, infrastructure, agentic AI, and AI tooling ecosystem
This independent conference leans technical and builder-first, less marketing, more engineering. Talks span LLM deployment patterns, eval frameworks, AI infrastructure, and developer tooling for next-gen AI apps. It's a favorite among startups and independent builders.
10. World Summit AI
📍 Amsterdam | 7 – 8 October 2026
Best for: Builders and leaders bridging AI engineering and responsible innovation
Focus: Generative AI, LLMs, AI ethics, and global AI ecosystem
Part of World AI Week, this Amsterdam-based summit draws over 15,000 participants across enterprise, startups, and academia. For builders, it's the most global snapshot of how AI is being developed and governed, a perfect wrap-up for the year.
Closing
Each of these ten conferences offers something slightly different depending on where you live in the stack (model-building, product, infrastructure, deployment) and your role (engineer, PM, data scientist). If you can attend 1–2 in 2026, pick your goals (what you're building this year) and choose the event that aligns most closely with your work.
Happy building. Here's to a strong year of shipping, scaling, iterating, and learning.