Leading lights of the tech industry met in Lisbon on Tuesday for the Web Summit, the sector’s first big event since the US election, with Donald Trump’s victory expected to be a key theme of their discussions.
The tech industry is holding its breath to see what Trump’s second term will bring when he takes over in January, especially as SpaceX and Tesla chief Elon Musk is expected to have a huge influence on the next US government.
During Trump’s last term from 2017 to 2021, big tech firms were often at odds with the president, particularly given his crackdown on immigration and ramping up the trade war with China.
The Web Summit runs until Thursday with some 3,000 startups pitching their products to 1,000 investors, and 70,000 visitors taking part in events and debates, according to the organisers.
Thousands poured through the doors on the first full day of the event, delegates from countries and local governments manning pavilions with splashy slogans and sleek logos, flanked by banks of stands devoted to startups.
Among Tuesday’s high-profile speakers was Cristiano Amon, boss of chip giant Qualcomm, who played down the impact of Trump’s election.
“We’ve done well globally regardless of the administration,” he said in a press conference, adding that his firm also was managing to thrive in China despite the current trade war with the United States.
Ukraine, whose future depends on Western support to push back against the Russian invasion, brought 24 startups to the event.
“Times are very challenging,” said Yana Hulak from the Ukrainian Startup Fund when asked about the ongoing war and the changes in leadership in Washington.
“The country’s priorities are in the military sector. We are trying to showcase civilian technology,” she told AFP.
“We’ve got startups here covering sectors from education to insurance.”
– AI ‘suicide race’ –
The event kicked off on Monday night with singer Pharrell Williams bringing star power to the proceedings.
Organisers were keen to move on from last year’s edition when a string of big firms pulled out after Web Summit chief executive Paddy Cosgrave wrote social media posts accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza.
Cosgrave stepped down but has since returned to his post. He made no reference to the controversy in his opening speech Monday, saying simply: “It’s good to be back.”
Cosgrave stressed that the Web Summit is focused on the startup ecosystem first and foremost.
But big tech firms have returned to the gathering this year with Meta, Google and others all represented.
Kuo Zhang, president of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.com, took to the stage to outline the features of a new AI-powered search engine called Accio, named after a spell in the Harry Potter series.
Microsoft President Brad Smith was also on hand to extol the benefits of AI.
His firm has ploughed billions into the tech and he told the audience AI was “the next great general purpose technology”.
On the other side of the debate, prominent AI critic Max Tegmark, president of the Future of Life Institute, told the event on Monday that humanity could be on the path to oblivion.
He was especially critical of the competition between nations to build ever more powerful AI.
“It’s not an arms race between the US and China, it’s a suicide race,” he said.
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