"The First Generation”: Red Rock CEO Michele Fiscalini Addresses the AI Agents Hackathon at the American University in Dubai

On October 24, 2026, the final day of the AI Agents Hackathon at the American University in Dubai, Red Rock Technology CEO Michele Fiscalini opened the award session with a message for the students in the room. Around fifty students, working in twelve teams, had spent two days designing and building AI agents at the hackathon, organised by the AUD Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center (AEIC) in collaboration with Red Rock Technology.

The speech was not about the competition. It was about the generation competing in it.

“Every revolution in history had a first generation. Electricity had a first generation. The internet had a first generation. Artificial intelligence has one too. And it is you.”

A Company That Lives the Shift

Michele did not describe AI agents as a forecast. He described them as an operating reality. At Red Rock, agents are not a project. They are how the company works, every day, across its processes, on its own infrastructure and under its own control. That perspective shapes every Red Rock engagement: managed software architecture and engineering capabilities, together with AI agent infrastructure for operational automation and sovereign systems. Michele put the principle behind it to the students directly:

“The agent proposes, the person decides.”

Autonomy without governance is not progress. It is risk. The systems that will matter in the next decade are the ones institutions can audit, govern and trust.

Machines, People and Judgment

The sharpest moment of the speech was not about technology.

“Machines will keep getting smarter. That does not scare me. What scares me is people working like machines.”

The task he set the teams was clear: build agents that take on the mechanical work, and give people back their time, their talent and their judgment.

He also spoke about failure, from experience. At fifty, Michele left his job and started again in Dubai. “The fear was still there, but it no longer made the decisions.” His advice to the teams followed directly: fail fast, learn faster, build again, and do not wait for permission.

A Message Beyond the Room

The speech was addressed to students, but its argument reaches further. The age of AI agents will not be defined by the models alone. It will be defined by who builds the systems, who governs them, and whether they serve the people who depend on them. That is the standard Red Rock holds itself to, and the standard Michele asked the next generation of builders to carry forward. Red Rock thanks the AUD Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, Dr. Maya Abou Zahr and the AEIC team for hosting the hackathon. The full story of the event and its winning teams is covered in a dedicated article on this blog.

One day, people will ask who built the age of AI agents. Michele gave his answer to a room of students in Dubai: the first generation.

If you lead an institution building the systems it will depend on for the next decade and want to understand what Red Rock can deliver, get in touch with the team.