AI, trade and $24 socks: Inside the inaugural SXSW in London

CNBC

2 days ago

South by Southwest (SXSW) may be a well-known event in the United States, but it certainly hasn't reached the same level of recognition in Britain.
"What's that?" asked a pedestrian who was passing by a SXSW London sign.
SXSW is a festival held in Austin, Texas, every year that brings together big names in music, film, art and technology. The organizers have brought the event to London for the first time this week, and CNBC took at look at what's going on.
CNBC's Tania Bryer moderated a discussion with London Mayor Sadiq Khan who during an opening speech made the pitch for the city as a "hub for talent, trade, tech and innovation."
Khan took veiled swipes at the U.S. President Donald Trump and his trade policies and pitched London as open for business.
"So at the time when there's so much uncertainty and political turmoil across the pond, defined by an inward looking mentality, I'm going to reach out to international investors, businesses and creators to say that London offers you the opposite," Khan said, according to Deadline.
SXSW is being held in various venues across the creative neighborhood of Shoreditch which is also close to Old Street, a key tech hub in the early days of London's startup scene. Shoreditch was taken over by SXSW London branding, from murals to signs on lampposts.
Big names are in attendance, such as "Game of Thrones" star Sophie Turner and actor and musician Idris Elba. On the tech front, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis spoke, as did Thomas Wolf, co-founder of artificial intelligence firm Hugging Face.
So what was the experience like? The day started with me picking up my press pass and receiving an SXSW tote bag. There was a schedule and map in there and bar of SXSW-branded Tony's Chocolonely.
I made my way to Shoreditch Electric, a venue I just found out is home to the National Centre for Circus Arts. I watched a session where Thomas Wolf of Hugging Face discussed the progress of open-source artificial intelligence models and the future of robotics. Open source is a big deal in AI right now because of the strong performance of those models, especially out of China, which are free to use.
The venue was an industrial-style, exposed brick building. Just outside was a coffee bar, which was perfect for the sunny weather in London on Monday.
I then walked over to the Truman Brewery, where the main stage of the conference was. Outside the entrance were lots of food trucks and, of course, big brand displays from sunglasses firm Ray-Ban and electric car company Polestar, which had live music performances throughout the day.
Then there was the official merchandise store which was selling a pair of SXSW-branded socks for £18 ($24) and a T-shirt for £30.
After a quick security check, I was in the Truman Brewery in time for a session from Hassabis. I decided to try to watch it on stage but the line to get in was long, even about half an hour before the talk. So I decided to watch it on a screen in the media lounge, which had pretty decent sandwiches.
AI was certainly a big theme, with companies like Hugging Face, Google DeepMind and even Wayve, a U.K. driverless car startup backed by SoftBank, discussing the future of the technology.
Hassabis spoke about artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is generally understood as AI that is smarter than humans. He said AGI would be "bigger" than the Industrial Revolution and the internet in terms of its impact on society. He also warned about the need to develop this technology responsibly.
The DeepMind founder also said that over the next five to 10 years, AI tools are going to "supercharge technically savvy people who are at the forefront of using these technologies, but combining it with creativity and other skills."
"I think they're going to be able to achieve superhuman things," Hassabis said.
There are lots of big names performing throughout the week, including R&B star Tems — but they're far too late in the evening and don't sync up with my 5 a.m. wake-up call. So you'll have to look on social media to see what kind of vibe those events have.