Cisco is betting that the future of artificial intelligence will be shaped less by flashy demos—and more by hard conversations between the people actually building it.
On February 3, 2026, Cisco will host its second annual AI Summit in San Francisco and online, bringing together an unusually heavyweight lineup of executives, researchers, and policymakers who sit at the center of today’s fast-moving AI economy.
A Who’s Who of AI’s Decision-Makers
The speaker list reads like a map of AI’s power structure.
On stage will be Jensen Huang, whose chips fuel much of today’s AI boom; Sam Altman, whose company helped kickstart generative AI’s mainstream moment; and Marc Andreessen, one of Silicon Valley’s most influential investors.
They’ll be joined by cloud and platform leaders including Matt Garman, Amin Vahdat, and Mike Krieger, alongside design and collaboration voices like Dylan Field and Aaron Levie.
Cisco Chair and CEO Chuck Robbins and President and Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel will host the event.
Less Hype, More Reality
Unlike many AI conferences, Cisco’s summit isn’t centered on product launches or technical workshops.
Instead, the focus is on fireside-style conversations about how AI is actually being built, deployed, and governed at global scale. Topics will span infrastructure bottlenecks, the reshaping of creative and knowledge work, venture capital’s evolving role, and the geopolitical implications of AI systems that now cross borders as easily as data packets.
That framing reflects a broader shift in the industry. As AI moves from experimental to foundational, the biggest questions are no longer what’s possible—but what’s sustainable.
Why Cisco Is Hosting the Conversation
Cisco’s interest here is far from academic.
As AI models grow larger and more distributed, they put unprecedented pressure on networks, data centers, and security systems—areas where Cisco has long played a central role. By convening rivals, partners, and policymakers in one room, Cisco positions itself as a neutral backbone provider for an AI-first world.
It’s also a signal to enterprise customers: the AI transition isn’t just about models and GPUs. It’s about connectivity, resilience, and trust at scale.
Open Access, Global Audience
The summit kicks off at 9:00 a.m. PT and will be livestreamed globally, with no registration paywall.
That matters. Decisions and norms discussed by leaders on this stage—around infrastructure standards, responsible deployment, and workforce impact—will influence companies and governments far beyond Silicon Valley.
What to Watch
Cisco says more agenda details will be released ahead of the event, but expectations are already high that the summit will surface early signals about where enterprise AI, regulation, and investment are heading next.
If nothing else, the gathering underscores a simple truth: the AI economy is no longer theoretical—and the people shaping it are now talking in public.
Cisco AI Summit 2026: At-a-Glance
| Category | Details |
| Event | Cisco AI Summit 2026 |
| Host Company | Cisco |
| Date | February 3, 2026 |
| Start Time | 9:00 a.m. PT |
| Format | Hybrid: San Francisco + Global Livestream |
| Access | Free, ungated, worldwide |
| Hosts | Chuck Robbins; Jeetu Patel |
| Core Theme | Building, scaling, and governing the AI economy |
| Focus Areas | AI infrastructure, policy, design, workforce, geopolitics |
Key Speakers Snapshot
| Speaker | Role | Organization |
| Jensen Huang | Founder & CEO | NVIDIA |
| Sam Altman | CEO | OpenAI |
| Marc Andreessen | Co-Founder & GP | Andreessen Horowitz |
| Matt Garman | CEO | AWS |
| Fei-Fei Li | CEO & Co-founder | World Labs |
| Lip-Bu Tan | CEO | Intel |
| Amin Vahdat | Chief Technologist, AI Infra | |
| Mike Krieger | Chief Product Officer | Anthropic |
| Dylan Field | CEO & Co-Founder | Figma |
| Aaron Levie | CEO & Co-Founder | Box |
Why This Summit Matters
| Signal | Why It’s Important |
| Infrastructure-first focus | AI’s bottlenecks are now networks, security, and scale |
| Cross-industry lineup | Chips, cloud, policy, design in one room |
| No product launches | Signals a strategic, not promotional, agenda |
| Open global access | Sets norms beyond Silicon Valley |
Conclusion
Cisco’s AI Summit is less about predicting the future of AI and more about negotiating it—live, with the people who control the levers.