Future of AI in focus at Web Summit Qatar 2025

Tech entrepreneurs and financial backers who attended Qatar’s second annual Web Summit focused on the future of artificial intelligence (AI).

On Monday, the four-day summit focused on emerging and emerging technologies, with attendees anticipating a rapidly changing AI environment.

On the day of the event, renowned businesspeople from all over the world took center stage, including Alexander Wang, the founder and CEO of Scale AI, and Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit and the general partner of Seven Seven Six.

Colin Baker, a journalist from Doha, reported that the summit is grappling with “companies and investors that are changing that landscape more quickly than we anticipated.”

According to Wang of US company Scale AI, the United States and China are the leaders in AI readiness. According to DeepSeek, the two nations are currently in a comparatively close race, with others likely to follow suit soon.

According to Wang, “nearly every country in the world, or nearly every company in the world, will ultimately likely build AI technology on top of either the US or the Chinese technology stack.”

In the face of fiercer competition from neighboring Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar is attempting to use its gas wealth to advance its regional AI position.

In a bid to improve government services in the Gulf Arab state, the Doha government announced on Sunday that it had signed a five-year contract with Scale AI.

Initially started in Dublin in 2009 by Paddy Cosgrave, Web Summit began as a small 150-person tech conference. At last year’s event, Qatar focused on attracting early-stage tech companies by offering incentives such as free visas, tax exemptions, business licences, office space, and funding for promising firms.