Intro
Web Summit, an annual technology conference held in Lisbon, Portugal, was founded in 2009 initially hosted in Dublin, Ireland, the event relocated to Lisbon in 2016. The conference covers a wide range of topics, including internet technology, emerging innovations, marketing, and venture capitalism. It attracts participants from all areas of the global tech industry, ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.
This year, two of our colleagues attended the event and are excited to share their key takeaways. Here’s a summary of their highlights:
Dieter Orens - Senior Developer
As previous years, this year was all about AI. There was so much to choose from and making a proper selection of topics was a battle on its own that could probably have benefited from AI’s help.
Being a developer and JetBrains user myself, I obviously attended the talk from Kirill Skrygan, CEO of JetBrains, speaking about AI and how replaceable we are.
If we are to believe Kirill, AI will not replace humans, but the software industry will be disrupted, AI will be helping devs as an assistant but how far will it go?
According to Skrygan, there are 3 levels of AI:
Level 1 Auto Complete
This is the current level, where AI is used mostly as an autocomplete. An assistant to the developer that can quickly generate boilerplate code, finds a bug in a function, explains some code fragments, gets you started quickly or serves as inspiration to get things started.
Level 2 Coding Agents
This is where the AI literally resolves entire tasks. Kirill tells us that in theory 43% of this year’s tasks could already be done.
JetBrains are working on a coding agent tool themselves, called JetBrains Junie: it will take the task, write the tests, write the code, fix the code without in theory the need for any developer.
Obviously this would be direct competition to JetBrains’ products, so if they don’t do it, someone else definitely will.
How exactly this would work out in practice, we did not get to see it.
Level 3 Autonomous Agents
This will be a world where the agents resolve entire tasks, learn from their mistakes, while being integrated around the globe and communicate with each other and create infrastructure themselves.
Will this Level 3 replace developers? Eventually, yes. All of them? Well not all, but most of them. It is a challenge as well as an opportunity. We are at the 4th industrial revolution.
Because what is a developer really? Coding is just our surface identity. Coding is transitory. Our core identity is being an engineer: ingenious. We are creators, striving to build new things. Humanity has had engineers for 1000’s of years and still will need engineers for a long time.
So, how do we go from here? There are three paths to recreate ourselves. As a curator, where we assess, connect, and plug various parts and act as a supervisor. As a problem solver and next generation product owner where we formulate requirements, design and invent new products that need human logic and reason. Or joining the AI industry as a trainer for AI, being a prompt engineer or an agent controller.
All in all, AI is essential for JetBrains’ mission. AI is a helper, not a competitor.
This brings me to another noteworthy mention of Max Tegmark’s appearance on the first opening day as well as later in the week.
Max Tegmark, President of the Future of Life Institute, was pretty much warning us all against the race towards AGI - Artificial General Intelligence - which he believes to be a suicide race without proper global safety standards in place between the world’s major countries like the US and China. Tool AI is pretty much all we need, he says.
And tool AI is most certainly what most of the summit was about as for example in the talk about Harness AI - an end-to-end software delivery platform.
Or Healx AI - AI powered and patient-inspired treatments for rare diseases or Precision Neuroscience - creating minimally invasive brain-computer interfaces.
And what about household robots doing the chores in our future by Agility Robotics?
Not all was rosy on the AI front though. One of the more lengthy and interesting talks was the live podcast recording of Intelligence Squared about AI and the future of warfare with Agnès Callamard of Amnesty International and Kenneth Cukier from the Economist.
Bill Savory - Project Manager
This year marked my first experience attending Web Summit in Lisbon and I found the entire event both highly impressive and incredibly well curated. AI dominated the discourse across a wide range of subjects including warfare, politics, energy, social media, ecommerce and health amongst many others..
One of the standout talks on the first day was titled "Getting Real" by Des Traynor. He delved into the fascinating history of industrial revolutions and technological advancements, sharing some humorous old newspaper headlines highlighting resistance to technological advancements such as "Will The Typewriter Cause Wars" and "Time to Go Back to the Horse & Cart."
Des highlighted an important point: despite fears that technological revolutions eliminate jobs, history has shown that they consistently create more opportunities than they displace. He argued that deeper integration of AI into our personal and professional lives is not only inevitable but also an opportunity for growth. For those of us who regret missing the internet’s early days, AI offers a parallel moment to be part of a transformative shift from the start; if you’re willing to embrace the opportunity.
Another compelling discussion was led by Lambert Hogenhout and Britta Muzyk-Tikvosky, who explored the mid-term impacts of AI and software on individuals and society. They touched on how co-pilot tools and communication platforms influence human pressures related to professional performance. The discussion explored the idea that there is a parallel between using these co-pilot tools for professional performance and the self-image issues we face as humans, tools like Snapchat filters allow us to mask these insecurities through digital personas. However, this has ultimately amplified and exacerbated the real world problems they aim to conceal. Will our reliance on AI in professional contexts create new pressures linked to our work identities?
Data quoted during the talk revealed:
“60% of Brits feel their digital personas differ from their true selves.”
Given the advancements in technology over the past 20 years, the skills we value today have shifted, causing skills which were once prominent in society to lose their perceived importance. It begs the question; with the acceleration of AI’s role in society, what will the children of tomorrow value? Perhaps more critically, what will happen to the skills we delegate to AI?
Sustainability was another central theme at Web Summit, with several sessions addressing the urgent need for change and others displaying truly inspirational innovation. For me, the highlight of the three-day summit was a discussion with Etosha Cave, co-founder and Chief Science Officer at Twelve, interviewed by Diogo Teixeira. Twelve is pioneering the production of sustainable fuels and materials. Their most groundbreaking innovation is eFuels; carbon-neutral fuels created by capturing atmospheric CO2 and converting it into energy sources. For example, their jet fuels reduce emissions by 90% compared to conventional options. Beyond aviation, Twelve’s CO2-based fuels can replace fossil fuels in a variety of industries, from cars and plastics to household products. These solutions are fossil-free, carbon-negative, and match the quality and performance of traditional petroleum-based products. This groundbreaking work not only combats climate change but also opens new possibilities for sustainable industrial practices.
Beyond the headline talks, I encountered several innovative companies that are pushing boundaries within ecommerce and their respective fields. Here are some highlights:
- Kleecks: A platform that streamlines website optimisation for ecommerce businesses.
- The New Face: A tech and creative company reimagining the digital experience for consumers and brands.
- Gésumé: Offering a new way to stand out to employers for jobseekers and companies by offering original and powerful tools and features related to the hiring process and career development.
- Streamcart: A social commerce platform combining livestreaming with ecommerce, enabling consumers to shop directly from engaging video content by integrating your social profiles with your online store.
- Margins AI: AI powered price optimisation and analysis to help businesses identify growth opportunities and optimise sell throughs alongside profitability opportunities.
- Ninyes Inc: A second hand fashion integration that enables brands to resell verified, good-condition products while keeping users on site, aiming to promote recycling and reduce textile waste.
Web Summit 2024 not only highlighted the transformative potential of AI, it showcased outstanding eCommerce businesses and innovative solutions, whilst emphasising the cross sector collaboration required to tackle sustainability and societal challenges.
