SXSW 2025: Key Highlights to Watch
April 10, 2025
FredMartínez
20
TechCrunch is hitting the ground running at SXSW 2025, which kicked off on Friday in Austin. We're diving right into the heart of the AI-centric era, and guess what? AI's already stealing the show. A quick glance at the SXSW schedule shows AI taking center stage not just in Austin, but worldwide. What's cool this year is the focus on how AI's actually being used in the real world, not just what it might do in the future.
SXSW has a knack for mirroring what's hot in the tech world, from founders to investors. It often rides the wave of whatever's trending. Remember when autonomous vehicles, scooters, crypto, and even psychedelics were the talk of the town? Well, they've all had their moment here.
The tech part of the event started Friday and will keep going until March 13. Right off the bat, there are tracks that are right up TechCrunch's alley—like the creator economy, culture, startups, health and medtech, and energy. The AI track officially kicks off on Sunday, but it's already popping up. For example, Signal President Meredith Whittaker, speaking on Friday, pointed out the security and privacy risks of agentic AI. Meanwhile, a health expert warned about the dangers of relying too much on AI for companionship.
We'll also see deep tech like space and quantum computing making waves, along with climate and sustainability—don't miss Rivian's founder and CEO RJ Scaringe's keynote on March 11. And transportation's back in the spotlight, with autonomous vehicles actually hitting the roads this time. Just this week, Uber and Waymo launched their "Waymo on Uber" robotaxi service in Austin, open to any Uber account holder. You can bet TechCrunch will be hopping in those robotaxis and chatting with human Uber drivers to get their take on it all.
We'll be mingling with VCs, founders, and industry experts at SXSW to gauge how the tech scene's adapting to the Trump administration and to sniff out the next big thing. We're also keeping an eye on the keynotes and interviews with tech and business bigwigs, like Alan Baratz from D-Wave Quantum, Qualcomm's President and CEO Cristiano Amon, Colossal Biosciences founder Ben Lamm, and Arm CEO Rene Haas.
But hey, it's not all work and no play. We'll have some fun too!
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Comments (15)
0/200
![ThomasRoberts]()
ThomasRoberts
April 17, 2025 at 9:45:04 PM GMT
SXSW 2025 is all about AI, and it's pretty cool to see it taking over! The schedule is packed with AI sessions, but it's a bit overwhelming. Wish there were more breaks to process all this info. Still, it's exciting to be at the forefront of tech! 🚀
0
![IsabellaLevis]()
IsabellaLevis
April 16, 2025 at 9:27:50 AM GMT
SXSW 2025はAIづくしで、AIが主役になってるのがかっこいい！スケジュールはAIセッションでいっぱいだけど、ちょっと圧倒される。もっと休憩時間が欲しいな。でも、最先端のテクノロジーに触れられるのはワクワクするよ！🚀
0
![BillyWilson]()
BillyWilson
April 15, 2025 at 7:57:35 AM GMT
SXSW 2025는 AI에 관한 모든 것인데, AI가 주목받는 게 멋져요! 일정표는 AI 세션으로 가득 차 있지만, 조금 압도적이에요. 정보를 처리할 시간이 더 필요해요. 그래도 기술의 최첨단에 서 있는 건 흥미로워요! 🚀
0
![RichardThomas]()
RichardThomas
April 11, 2025 at 1:57:06 AM GMT
SXSW 2025 é tudo sobre IA, e é bem legal ver isso dominando! A programação está cheia de sessões de IA, mas é um pouco avassalador. Gostaria que houvesse mais pausas para processar todas essas informações. Ainda assim, é emocionante estar na vanguarda da tecnologia! 🚀
0
![ChristopherTaylor]()
ChristopherTaylor
April 17, 2025 at 7:38:10 PM GMT
SXSW 2025 es todo sobre IA, y es genial ver cómo se está apoderando de todo. El horario está lleno de sesiones de IA, pero es un poco abrumador. Ojalá hubiera más descansos para procesar toda esta información. Aún así, es emocionante estar en la vanguardia de la tecnología! 🚀
0
![StephenPerez]()
StephenPerez
April 24, 2025 at 6:21:30 PM GMT
SXSW 2025 is all about AI and it's blowing my mind! The highlights are so cool but I wish they'd have more sessions on AI ethics. It's not just about the tech, right? Anyway, can't wait to see what else they have in store! 🤖
0
April 10, 2025
FredMartínez
20
TechCrunch is hitting the ground running at SXSW 2025, which kicked off on Friday in Austin. We're diving right into the heart of the AI-centric era, and guess what? AI's already stealing the show. A quick glance at the SXSW schedule shows AI taking center stage not just in Austin, but worldwide. What's cool this year is the focus on how AI's actually being used in the real world, not just what it might do in the future.
SXSW has a knack for mirroring what's hot in the tech world, from founders to investors. It often rides the wave of whatever's trending. Remember when autonomous vehicles, scooters, crypto, and even psychedelics were the talk of the town? Well, they've all had their moment here.
The tech part of the event started Friday and will keep going until March 13. Right off the bat, there are tracks that are right up TechCrunch's alley—like the creator economy, culture, startups, health and medtech, and energy. The AI track officially kicks off on Sunday, but it's already popping up. For example, Signal President Meredith Whittaker, speaking on Friday, pointed out the security and privacy risks of agentic AI. Meanwhile, a health expert warned about the dangers of relying too much on AI for companionship.
We'll also see deep tech like space and quantum computing making waves, along with climate and sustainability—don't miss Rivian's founder and CEO RJ Scaringe's keynote on March 11. And transportation's back in the spotlight, with autonomous vehicles actually hitting the roads this time. Just this week, Uber and Waymo launched their "Waymo on Uber" robotaxi service in Austin, open to any Uber account holder. You can bet TechCrunch will be hopping in those robotaxis and chatting with human Uber drivers to get their take on it all.
We'll be mingling with VCs, founders, and industry experts at SXSW to gauge how the tech scene's adapting to the Trump administration and to sniff out the next big thing. We're also keeping an eye on the keynotes and interviews with tech and business bigwigs, like Alan Baratz from D-Wave Quantum, Qualcomm's President and CEO Cristiano Amon, Colossal Biosciences founder Ben Lamm, and Arm CEO Rene Haas.
But hey, it's not all work and no play. We'll have some fun too!
Debates over AI benchmarking have reached Pokémon
Even the beloved world of Pokémon isn't immune to the drama surrounding AI benchmarks. A recent viral post on X stirred up quite the buzz, claiming that Google's latest Gemini model had outpaced Anthropic's leading Claude model in the classic Pokémon video game trilogy. According to the post, Gemini
Top 10 AI Marketing Tools for April 2025
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Wikipedia is giving AI developers its data to fend off bot scrapers
Wikipedia's New Strategy to Manage AI Data Scraping
Wikipedia, through the Wikimedia Foundation, is taking a proactive step to manage the impact of AI data scraping on its servers. On Wednesday, they announced a collaboration with Kaggle, a platform owned by Google and dedicated to data science and
April 17, 2025 at 9:45:04 PM GMT
SXSW 2025 is all about AI, and it's pretty cool to see it taking over! The schedule is packed with AI sessions, but it's a bit overwhelming. Wish there were more breaks to process all this info. Still, it's exciting to be at the forefront of tech! 🚀
0
April 16, 2025 at 9:27:50 AM GMT
SXSW 2025はAIづくしで、AIが主役になってるのがかっこいい！スケジュールはAIセッションでいっぱいだけど、ちょっと圧倒される。もっと休憩時間が欲しいな。でも、最先端のテクノロジーに触れられるのはワクワクするよ！🚀
0
April 15, 2025 at 7:57:35 AM GMT
SXSW 2025는 AI에 관한 모든 것인데, AI가 주목받는 게 멋져요! 일정표는 AI 세션으로 가득 차 있지만, 조금 압도적이에요. 정보를 처리할 시간이 더 필요해요. 그래도 기술의 최첨단에 서 있는 건 흥미로워요! 🚀
0
April 11, 2025 at 1:57:06 AM GMT
SXSW 2025 é tudo sobre IA, e é bem legal ver isso dominando! A programação está cheia de sessões de IA, mas é um pouco avassalador. Gostaria que houvesse mais pausas para processar todas essas informações. Ainda assim, é emocionante estar na vanguarda da tecnologia! 🚀
0
April 17, 2025 at 7:38:10 PM GMT
SXSW 2025 es todo sobre IA, y es genial ver cómo se está apoderando de todo. El horario está lleno de sesiones de IA, pero es un poco abrumador. Ojalá hubiera más descansos para procesar toda esta información. Aún así, es emocionante estar en la vanguardia de la tecnología! 🚀
0
April 24, 2025 at 6:21:30 PM GMT
SXSW 2025 is all about AI and it's blowing my mind! The highlights are so cool but I wish they'd have more sessions on AI ethics. It's not just about the tech, right? Anyway, can't wait to see what else they have in store! 🤖
0
