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A week of curiosity, crowded corridors, and one talk that stuck with me
I went to SXSW London to shake the snow globe. No agenda, just a notebook and the hope of bumping into ideas I hadn’t met yet. It was bright signage, long queues, and that familiar buzz of people trying to make sense of what’s next.
The day clicked for me during Advancing AI for Humanity with Demis Hasibbis. The takeaways weren’t fireworks. They were simple and useful: the near term is noisy, the long term is probably bigger than we think. Today’s systems still wobble on reasoning, but the interesting bits are already sneaking into daily life — less inbox sludge, better weather, faster science. It felt calm and practical. Less prophecy, more craft.
Walking between stages, I kept asking a small question: does this give someone their time back? If not, I’m less interested. That lens simplified everything. Hype fades. Good tools make ordinary moments easier.
A few snapshots from the week:
- A hallway demo that quietly out‑performed its keynote.
- A chat about “AI with soul” that ended with an honest “not yet, and that’s okay.”
- The soft chaos of big events: coffee that’s never quite hot enough, borrowed pens, strangers trading book recs.
What I took home is pretty modest: build useful things, add clear guardrails, and keep curiosity switched on. Fewer slides. More trying, measuring, and adjusting. And leave room for joy - because joy is why we bother.
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SXSW London 2025 felt like a nudge to build with care and curiosity. Less “move fast.” More “make it useful.” And leave room for joy.