From experiment to operation: how Abu Dhabi’s energy leaders are scaling artificial intelligence across industry

As ADIPEC 2026 enters its final stretch, the conversation has shifted decisively from what AI might do to what it is already doing. On the conference's third day, energy executives, technologists and investors examined the infrastructure, governance and human partnerships required to embed intelligent systems across the world's most complex industrial operations.

The transition is palpable. Where artificial intelligence once belonged to innovation labs and pilot projects, it now sits at the centre of boardroom strategy. The third day of ADIPEC 2026 made clear that the energy sector has moved decisively from experimenting with the technology to deploying it at scale, transforming how companies optimise assets, predict failures and manage sprawling global operations.

The Strategic Conference’s AI, Digital & Technology Innovation programme explored what it takes to construct an AI-ready energy system. Helmut von Struve, CEO of Siemens UAE & Middle East, articulated the imperative simply: “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.”

Yet the conversation extended far beyond technical capability. Speakers repeatedly emphasised that realising AI’s full potential demands more than clever algorithms. It requires robust data foundations, resilient digital infrastructure, clear governance frameworks and, crucially, investment commitments that few companies have yet fully embraced. The session ‘Digital transformation: building an AI-ready energy system’ brought together Rakesh Jaggi, President Digital at SLB, Som Dutta, Group Vice President for AI and Data Science at DP World, and Ashish Koshy, CEO of Inception42, to discuss the operational prerequisites. They converged on a single conviction: treating AI as a core capability, embedded across entire operations, will yield vastly greater returns than isolated pilots scattered through the organisation.

Trust emerged as perhaps the most critical foundation. Dennis Jol, CEO of AIQ, described a five-layer ecosystem essential to Abu Dhabi’s approach: energy, data, infrastructure, sovereign cloud and the models maintained within secure frameworks. “Ultimately, data has to belong to the customer,” Jol explained, “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.”

Collaboration between the energy and technology sectors took centre stage in discussions exploring how transparency and data-sharing can deepen industrial partnerships. As we have reported during the conference, the convergence of digital infrastructure and energy systems reflects a profound economic reality. John Gilley, CEO of Kent, articulated it with precision: “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.”

Addressing concerns that intelligent systems might supplant human workers, industry leaders emphasised the complementary nature of the partnership. Ashish Koshy argued passionately for human expertise augmented by machine intelligence rather than displaced by it. “It has to be not AI versus humans, but humans augmented by AI.”

The expanded AI Zone transformed theory into tangible demonstration. Stone Ridge Technology introduced the first AI-native pre and post-processing workflow orchestration layer built around its GPU-based ECHELON reservoir simulation software, designed to accelerate subsurface analysis. Honeywell showcased AI-driven autonomous upstream operations through its Honeywell Forge Upstream platform, whilst EY, partnering with Gecko Robotics, displayed robots capable of climbing, crawling, swimming and flying to inspect critical infrastructure such as pipelines and power plants, combining high-fidelity asset data with AI-powered analytics to predict equipment failures and extend asset life.

Sinaha demonstrated Autonomous Mobile Robots already deployed in intelligent warehouses, coordinated through proprietary robotics management systems, with manufacturing set to commence at the company’s UAE facility from the first quarter of 2027. The neighbouring Digitalisation Zone featured digital twins, edge computing platforms and cybersecurity solutions designed to support increasingly connected and autonomous energy systems.

Infrastructure financing and delivery commanded significant attention. As earlier sessions at ADIPEC explored in depth, bringing investment and project expertise together remains formidable. Tarek El Molla, Founder and Principal Consultant at Luminant Energy Consultancy and former Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources of Egypt, stressed that “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.” Ambassador Martina Strong, Region President for Central Europe and the Middle East at Bechtel, observed that markets are reassessing how they approach investment in large, complex infrastructure across the region.

What it means for Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi’s leadership in hosting ADIPEC positions the Emirate as the intellectual centre of global energy transformation. The conference demonstrates that the UAE’s commitment to digital infrastructure, data sovereignty and responsible AI governance is shaping how the world’s energy leaders think about scaling intelligent systems. This technical sophistication, coupled with the region’s investment capacity and geopolitical stability, positions Abu Dhabi as a natural home for the digital energy infrastructure that the global sector is now building.

For Abu Dhabi’s economy, the implications extend beyond energy. The demonstration that AI, digital systems and human expertise can be woven together at scale across complex industrial operations creates a template applicable across multiple sectors. The presence of companies like Sinaha manufacturing autonomous robots in the UAE from 2027 onwards signals that Abu Dhabi is not merely hosting conversations about the digital future, but actively building the systems and industries that will define it.

Source: WAM (Emirates News Agency)