UAE to Launch World’s Largest AI Film Award with $1 Million Prize

The United Arab Emirates has announced the creation of a groundbreaking global competition, the AI Film Award, which will feature one of the largest prize pools dedicated to cinematic art. With a total prize fund of one million US dollars, the award is established in partnership with Google Gemini. Its primary goal is to support and incentivize the creation of films that utilize advanced artificial intelligence tools.

The award will be presented as part of the upcoming 1 Billion Followers Summit, scheduled for January 9-11, 2026. Organizers anticipate a massive global turnout, expecting more than 30,000 participants from over 140 countries, including at least 15,000 content creators. The summit itself will host over 400 speakers who collectively command an audience of more than 3 billion followers across various social media platforms.

The core mission of the AI Film Award is to promote short films that leverage AI technologies to effectively convey ideas to a worldwide audience, while also helping filmmakers develop their technical and creative skills. Beyond the competition, the summit will feature a Creator’s Market with over 100 startups and the Creators Ventures accelerator, which is set to allocate more than 50 million AED (approximately $13.6 million) to support creators aspiring to become entrepreneurs.

The application window for the AI Film Award is now open and will remain so until November 20, 2025, via the official summit website. The selection process will see ten finalists chosen between November 21 and December 4, followed by a public voting period from December 10 to 15. The top five films will be announced on January 3, 2026, with the grand prize winner of the $1 million award being revealed on January 11, 2026. The competition is open to all active creators worldwide.

Source: Arabian Business