Winners named by AI World Series Awards
Dubai awards ceremony recognises 19 global AI innovators
#UAE #awards - The AI World Series Awards recognised AI innovators from across the world in a ceremony held in Dubai on Thursday. Brazilian food delivery platform iFood was awarded at the overall winner at the AI World Series Awards 2025. Other organisations from across government, financial services, healthcare and energy sectors received recognition for real-world artificial intelligence implementation at a gala ceremony organised by the AI for Business Institute. Founded in 2011, iFood was also awarded first in the Best AI Virtual Assistant category, first in the Best use of AI in Fraud category and a runner up in the Best Use of AI in Risk category. Middle East AI News is official media partner of the AI World Series Awards.
SO WHAT? - The doubling of entries year-on-year to 138 entries in 2025, signals that enterprises globally are moving decisively from AI experimentation to scaled, measurable implementation. This year’s awards judges assessed 71 finalists across 19 different categories. Middle East participants secured nine category wins, reflecting the region’s emergence as a centre of practical AI innovation alongside its significant infrastructure investments.
Here are the key details of this year’s awards:
The AI World Series Awards awarded Brazilian food delivery platform iFood as the overall winner for the AI World Series Awards 2025, at a gala ceremony held in Dubai on Thursday. The awards received 138 entries from 23 countries in 2025, double the previous year’s submission rate.
Ranked first out of 71 finalists São Paulo-headquartered food delivery service iFood, won the overall award whilst also securing victories in Best AI Virtual Assistant and Best Use of AI in Fraud. The company was also named runner up in the Best use of AI in Risk category.
Middle East organisations secured nine category wins including Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority winning Best Use of AI in Government, Al Wathba Insurance claiming Best Use of AI in Marketing, and ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) securing Best Use of AI in the Oil Sector.
The gala ceremony attracted 250 attendees to celebrate excellence, with finalists spanning government bodies, private enterprises and technology companies from four continents competing across multiple sectors including financial services, education, healthcare and energy.
Judging panels comprised over 150 independent expert judges, with the awards’ scoring model endorsed by the University of Westminster in the UK and certified by the Customer Institute, ensuring robust and fair assessment of artificial intelligence implementation quality. Entries were evaluated by panels of independent expert judges across 19 distinct categories of AI implementation.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
Full list of winners
The full list of winners is
Overall Winner — iFood (Brazil)
Best Use of AI in Financial Services — zypl.ai (UAE)
Best Use of AI in Education —Kezana (UAE)
Best Use of AI in Healthcare & Insurance — Irish Life (Ireland)
Best Use of AI in Government — Dubai Roads & Transport Authority (UAE)
Best Use of AI in Energy/Utilities — PA Consulting (UK)
Best Use of AI in Marketing — Al Wathba Insurance (UAE)
Best AI Enabled Chatbot — Prime Healthcare Group LLC (UAE)
Best use of AI in the oil sector — ADNOC (UAE)
Best AI Agent Assist — Tetherfi (Singapore)
Best sentiment analysis product — INDECX (Brazil)
Best AI Virtual Assistant — ifood (Brazil)
Best Use of AI in Risk — Česká spořitelna, Erste group (Czech Republic)
Best Use of AI in Fraud — ifood (Brazil)
Best AI virtual assistant - Arabic — Bank ABC (Bahrain)
Best Predictive Analytics AI Product — Emerging Travel Group (USA)
Best AI Governance Strategy — GDRFA-Dubai (UAE)
Best Generative AI Product for Text — Kezana (UAE)
Best AI Ethics & Diversity Strategy — Intent HQ (UK)
LINKS
Read more about the AI for Business Institute and the AI World Series:
AI World Series Awards announces 78 global finalists (Middle East AI News)
Deadline looms for this year’s AI World Series Awards (Middle East AI News)
Institute launched to bridge gap between AI & business (Middle East AI News)