Paris (AFP) – Global tech leaders will pack Lisbon’s annual Web Summit from Tuesday to talk Artificial Intelligence, robots, and startups — all under the shadow of tensions over cutting-edge tech and the natural resources needed to build it. Over four days, the “Davos for geeks” is set to welcome over 70,000 visitors including 2,500 startups and 1,000 investors, according to organizers.
Tech leaders gathered at Monday’s opening night, starring Swedish startup founder Anton Osika, whose Lovable software company is touted as the fastest growing in history. The audience also cheered TikTok star Khaby Lame, tennis great Maria Sharapova, and an Olympics-style parade of tech founders bearing their nations’ flags.
Here are some of the key themes at the show:
– **Shifting sands** – “This year, more than any year before, it’s clear that the era of Western tech dominance is fading,” Web Summit founder Paddy Cosgrave said Monday. He cited Chinese manufacturers leading in fields like AI and humanoid robots, as well as Brazilian digital payments service PIX and a record number of Polish startups, as evidence of a more multipolar tech world. Beyond the glossy tech products, global tensions over hi-tech trade, competition, and sovereignty will weigh on discussions.
– **Robots and autonomous cars** – The “most advanced humanoid robots in the world” on display are “not European, they’re not American. Instead, they are Chinese,” Cosgrave said. Nevertheless, US speakers will include Amazon Robotics boss Tye Brady and Robert Playter of Boston Dynamics. Uber president Andrew Macdonald and rival Lyft’s chief David Risher will talk up schemes to fill the streets with robotaxis. Uber has partnered with Nvidia to upgrade tens of thousands of vehicles with automation tech from 2027. Waymo, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, has said its driverless vehicles will arrive in London next year. Several Chinese manufacturers including Baidu and Pony.ai have Europe in their sights for an automated car rollout.
– **AI and chips** – The struggle for dominance may be fiercest in generative artificial intelligence, spotlighting Tuesday’s planned appearance by Cristiano Amon, boss of American chip developer Qualcomm. His company has announced AI chips squaring up to sector heavyweight Nvidia and challenger AMD. The rival high-end processors are subject to US export restrictions on national security grounds. Several leaders of other top AI firms will also appear, including Microsoft president Brad Smith. Osika’s Lovable is one of several firms allowing users to create apps and websites via a chatbot without coding experience. “We’re seeing 100,000 new products built on Lovable every single day,” he said. British dictionary publisher Collins dubbed this “vibe coding” approach its word of the year for 2025.
– **Health and sports** – Almost 30 percent of investment in new sports technology went into AI firms in the first half of this year, according to investment bank Drake Star’s study. On stage, Sharapova praised AI tools’ value to sports — from preparing athletes for competition to speeding up recovery time or stoking fans’ engagement. Wearables, such as watches and rings able to monitor sleep, heart rate, or body temperature, mean that tech’s ability to detect initial signs of illness will be another hot topic.
– **Tech sovereignty** – Brussels will send Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s digital chief, as the 27-nation EU is increasingly fearful for its technological sovereignty amid rising trade and political tensions. “We’re more and more dependent, especially on the American hyperscalers” or major data center operators, said Maya Noel, director general of the France Digitale network of tech companies and investment firms, who will urge European alternatives. As the Commission pressures American and Chinese platforms to tighten measures for underage internet users, American games publisher Roblox — whose game is popular with minors — will outline how it plans to verify players’ ages.
© 2024 AFP
