From AI ambition to industrial-scale deployment at ADIPEC 2026

A key message emerging strongly from ADIPEC 2026 is that AI is shifting from ambition to implementation, and that its value lies not in isolated pilots but in its potential to transform operations right across the value chain

However, while the capabilities of AI to improve productivity and strengthen operational performance, resilience and energy security were highlighted, speakers at the show emphasised that realising AI’s full value will depend on the data, infrastructure, governance frameworks, and investment to embed the technology across complex industrial operations.

Building an AI-ready energy system

Speaking in a conference session titled ‘Beyond digital: how AI is reshaping industries, economies and society’, Helmut von Struve, CEO, Siemens UAE & Middle East, said, "The greatest value from an AI perspective is where industries, and also the essential services we depend on, can be improved. It is really about how we can make essential operations more productive and reliable, and how we can make them more resource-efficient."

Discussions also highlighted the importance of collaboration between the energy and technology sectors, with transparency, digital technologies and data-sharing enabling deeper industrial partnerships.

Looking at the growing convergence between digital infrastructure and energy systems, John Gilley, CEO, Kent, said, "We are seeing that it is not just about energy; it is about connecting the world's appetite for data with the world's appetite for energy. Each country wants to have control of its own data and energy."

In the session titled “Digital transformation: building an AI-ready energy system”, Rakesh Jaggi, president Digital, SLB, Som Dutta, Group VP – AI and Data Science, DP World, and Ashish Koshy, CEO, Inception42, discussed the data foundations, digital infrastructure and operating models that companies need before AI can be embedded across operations at scale. They agreed that the greatest value will come from treating AI as a core capability, not a series of isolated pilots.

Addressing concerns that AI could replace rather than support workers, Ashish Koshy, CEO, Inception42, argued that the greatest value would come from combining human expertise with machine intelligence, saying: "It has to be not AI versus humans, but humans augmented by AI."

Data and security in focus

As AI adoption accelerates, speakers argued that confidence in the technology will depend not only on capability, but on strong governance, cyber resilience and trust.

Dennis Jol, CEO, AIQ, stressed that trust would be fundamental to wider adoption, saying: "Collaboration moves at the speed of trust. If we look at the UAE ecosystem, it is a five-layer cake: energy, data, infrastructure, sovereign cloud and the models we have access to, which maintain security. We sit on top of that. Ultimately, data has to belong to the customer, and customers have to trust us. Cybersecurity rules need to be enhanced. Sovereignty does not need to be national; it just needs to exist within your own framework."

The importance of community engagement was also highlighted, particularly given the growing backlash against AI from some quarters. Joseph McMonigle, president, Global Center for Energy Analysis, said, "I do not think it is going to be possible to avoid moving forward with AI and digital computing, but the industry needs to be much more effective and change its strategy. It needs to pay more attention to the local level. There needs to be some kind of inclusion.”

Attracting investment

Large-scale deployment of AI and digital technologies is not cheap. Discussing the challenge of financing and delivering large-scale energy infrastructure, Tarek El Molla, founder & principal consultant, Luminant Energy Consultancy, and former Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources Egypt, said: "Unless governments are more tolerant and open, and offer more incentives for the use of infrastructure, helping secure buy-in from the private sector and multinationals, these projects will not succeed in attracting investment. This is not investment that is easily raised. Therefore, I think that in the coming years, policies will become more relaxed, inviting more private-sector capital."

Offering an investor and project-delivery perspective, Ambassador Martina Strong, region president, Central Europe and the Middle East, Bechtel, said, "Markets are already looking at the proposition of investing in large, complex infrastructure very differently from how they did, certainly in this part of the world."

AI in action

The expanded AI Zone, co-hosted by AIQ, provided real-world examples of how AI is moving from experimentation into operational deployment across the energy sector. Exhibitors showcased technologies spanning reservoir modelling, autonomous operations, grid management and robotics, highlighting how intelligent systems are being embedded across energy and industrial assets to improve productivity, reliability and decision-making.

• Stone Ridge Technology introduced its AI-native pre- and post-processing and workflow orchestration layer built around its GPU-based ECHELON reservoir simulation software, designed to accelerate subsurface analysis and reservoir management.
• Honeywell showcased AI-driven autonomous upstream operations through its Honeywell Forge Upstream platform, demonstrating how operators can use advanced analytics and automation to optimise asset performance and operational efficiency.
• EY, in partnership with Gecko Robotics, showcased robots capable of inspecting critical infrastructure such as pipelines and power plants. Combining high-fidelity asset data with AI-powered analytics, the technology helps predict equipment failures, extend asset life and support investment planning.
• Sinaha demonstrated the Autonomous Mobile Robots that are deployed in its intelligent warehouses, coordinated through its proprietary Robotics Management System, with manufacturing of the robots set to begin at the company's UAE facility next year.

Meanwhile, the Digitalisation Zone featured digital twins, edge computing platforms, industrial software and cybersecurity solutions designed to support increasingly connected energy systems and increasingly autonomous energy systems.