AJCAI 2026 (Australasian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence)

Overview

The Australasian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AJCAI) 2026 runs 27-30 November 2026 in Auckland, New Zealand. According to the official conference site (ajcai26.org), the event is held at the Sir Owen G Glenn Building at 12 Grafton Road, on the University of Auckland city campus, with registration having opened on 21 August 2026. AJCAI is the premier annual research conference for the artificial intelligence community across Australia and New Zealand, and the 2026 edition brings the series to Auckland.

Who runs it

AJCAI is the long-running flagship Australasian AI conference; the myhuiban conference record notes the series traces back to the first AI conference held in Sydney in 1987. The 2026 edition is organised by the AJCAI 2026 Organising Committee and hosted by the University of Auckland, with the organising-contact address tied to the Australian National University, reflecting the conference's trans-Tasman academic roots. The beri.net listing describes the event as CORE-rated, underlining its standing as a peer-reviewed academic forum.

Who it's for

The conference is aimed at AI researchers, academics, and postgraduate students, alongside industry and government practitioners. The programme published via beri.net includes a PhD Forum for early-career researchers and a dedicated Industry/Government Day and AI Faculty Highlight Day, signalling a mix of pure research and applied engagement. Topic areas listed include foundation models, AI-generated content, 3D vision, quantum machine learning, and explainable AI.

The venue

The Sir Owen G Glenn Building (12 Grafton Road, Auckland 1010) is the home of the University of Auckland Business School, an 11-level building completed in 2007. It sits on the Grafton Road side of the university's city campus in central Auckland, within walking distance of the central business district. As factual context, the central-city location places delegates close to a dense cluster of CBD hotels and to public transport, and the campus setting is a common choice for academic conferences in Auckland. Accommodation and venue detail pages are provided on the official conference site.

Why it matters for NZ MICE

AJCAI 2026 is a multi-day international academic conference that brings a trans-Tasman and wider research audience to Auckland for roughly four days, including a welcome reception and a conference dinner per the published programme. Multi-day conferences of this type generate sustained demand for central-city accommodation, catering, and social functions, and position Auckland as a host for internationally rated AI research events at a time of rising interest in the sector.