SXSW 2025: What we’re paying attention to

TechCrunch will be on the ground at SXSW 2025 — the annual tech, music, comedy, and film conference that kicked off Friday in Austin — in search of the zeitgeist of this AI-centric era. Yup, we’re one sentence in and AI has already made its entrance. And why not? A quick scan of the massive SXSW schedule illustrates that AI is on center stage in Austin — and globally. It’s worth noting that this year there seems to be an emphasis on how AI is being applied to the real world, not just speculation on what it could be. SXSW tends to reflect what the tech ecosystem of founders and backers are working on. And it often coincides with the hype cycle. Autonomous vehicles, scooter mania, crypto, psychedelics — they’ve all had their moment at SXSW. The tech portion of the annual event kicked off Friday and will run through March 13. The conference begins with several tracks that fall squarely in TechCrunch’s area of interest, including the creator economy, culture, startups, health and medtec ... Read full article.