AI MONTH 2026: Kazakhstan will become a platform for AI hackathons, investors and technology forums for a month

As part of the Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence in Kazakhstan, AI MONTH 2026, a large-scale program of events in the field of artificial intelligence and digital technologies, will start on September 23. It will unite the technology community, business, education, startups, international experts and regional initiatives across the country, Tech-news reports.

The central event of AI MONTH will be the international technology forum AI & Digital Bridge 2026, which will be held on October 1-3 in Astana.

In 2026, AI Week transformed into AI MONTH: the number of initiatives in the field of artificial intelligence has grown significantly, and the technology agenda covers more and more industries, audiences and regions of the country. The new format will unite initiatives into a single program and will allow the development of Kazakhstan’s AI ecosystem to be presented on a national scale.

On September 23, AI MONTH will open HackAlem AI powered by OpenAI, one of the world's largest hackathons for creating AI solutions. Teams of up to three people will create agent-based AI solutions for 10 key sectors of the Kazakh economy, with mandatory use of Codex and OpenAI API.

HackAlem AI's total prizes and technology resources will be $1.1 million. This includes cash prize money, API tokens, and OpenAI technology resources that participants can use to develop and launch their own AI solutions.

The winners of HackAlem AI will be awarded on the main stage of the international technology forum AI & Digital Bridge 2026. The hackathon will bring together developers, students, young professionals, startups and IT enthusiasts and will give participants the opportunity to go from an idea to a working AI solution in a short time.

On September 29–30, Astana will host KazHackStan, the largest international cybersecurity conference in Central Asia. More than 100 regional and international speakers will discuss DevSecOps, OSINT, data protection, malware analysis and new cyber threat vectors associated with the development of artificial intelligence.

On the same days, the C5+1 international platform will be held, dedicated to cooperation between the countries of Central Asia and the United States in the field of artificial intelligence. Representatives of states, international organizations and the technology community will discuss AI regulation, infrastructure development, personnel training and strengthening international technology partnerships.

The investment agenda will be continued by the LP Summit, the first summit in Eurasia for LP and VC investors. It will bring together institutional investors, venture and sovereign wealth funds, corporations and family offices to discuss the development of the venture ecosystem and new investment opportunities.

A separate area of ​​AI MONTH will be dedicated to technologies in healthcare. At AI and MedTech Day, experts, doctors, developers and startups will discuss the use of artificial intelligence in diagnostics and healthcare management and will work on new MedTech solutions.

One of the most spectacular technological formats will be a hackathon on humanoid robots