The AI Conference 2026 | Three days of keynotes at Pier 48

SAN FRANCISCO — The AI Conference returns to Pier 48 from September 29 through October 1, 2026, assembling the industry leading researchers, enterprise decision-makers, and policy figures for three days of keynotes, technical sessions, and networking.

Key themes for 2026

AI safety and governance. Following the rogue model incidents at OpenAI and Anthropic earlier this year, and the subsequent congressional hearings, safety infrastructure and regulatory frameworks are expected to dominate the agenda. The conference arrives just weeks after the House Democrats demanded AI CEO testimony and the introduction of both the FRONTIER Act and the AI Kill Switch Act.

Enterprise adoption. With major corporations accelerating AI integration across workflows, expect announcements around enterprise-grade deployment infrastructure, compliance tooling, and industry-specific fine-tuned models for healthcare, finance, and legal sectors.

Agentic AI. The shift from chat-based assistants toward autonomous agents capable of executing complex, multi-step tasks is the dominant technical trend of 2026. Multiple labs are expected to showcase agent frameworks, safety guardrails for autonomous operation, and real-world deployment case studies.

Open-source vs. frontier. The tension between open-weight model distribution and proprietary frontier development remains a central fault line in the industry. Panel discussions at the conference are expected to address model proliferation risks, export controls, and the role of open-source in the AI ecosystem.

OnyxTimes will be covering the conference with daily dispatches. Follow our Tech desk for updates throughout the event.