SXSW launches first London festival with its eye fixed on AI

Lanyard-clad attendees with branded tote bags and pink-shirted volunteers flowed through London’s Brick Lane on Monday, marking the launch of the inaugural SXSW London festival.

Taking place over multiple stages and venues in Shoreditch and Hoxton, SXSW London has officially kicked off its first full day of panels, keynotes, demonstrations, movie premieres, and music gigs. It's the first European version of SXSW, branching out from its original event in Austin, Texas.

And luckily, Londoners are no strangers to a queue, with SXSW’s penchant for long lines outside Austin venues replicated in the UK capital.

Playing to the strengths of fellow conferences, the biggest topics of SXSW London are the impact of AI on essentially anything you could think of, the creator economy and online communities, and self-driving tech — I spied a Wayve autonomous vehicle carefully navigating the pedestrian-filled Brick Lane (with a human driver behind the wheel, just in case).

London mayor Sadiq Khan officially launched the festival with a speech Monday morning, championing London as "a global centre for AI investment and innovation," emphasising a focus on ethical and accessible AI development, and playing to the audience with a ChatGPT anecdote.

"Given the major theme of this festival is tech and AI, this morning, I did consult ChatGPT about the significance of SXSW coming to our city," Khan said. "They said, and I quote, 'This is a moment of creative synergy, London's spirit meets Austin's swagger.' It then added, 'It's like Big Ben started wearing cowboy boots and launched a podcast.'"

Sir Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, took to the main stage to lead the conversation around AI, and former UK prime minister Tony Blair and current secretary of state Peter Kyle unpacked how government can either ignore or optimize AI (the UK government is launching a new app in collaboration with Anthropic).

Meanwhile, comedian Katherine Ryan and Nuchido's Dr. Nichola Conlon appeared on a panel about biohacking and their new podcast What's My Age Again? and Twitch CEO Dan Clancy unpacked why authentic online community building takes time. Plus, Deepak Chopra guided the SXSW audience through a meditation after providing the formula for consciousness, and long lines of attendees stretched outside venue Rich Mix as TikTok star Munya Chawawa drew crowds for his talk “TikTok to Tolstoy” which unpacked longer-form content on social media.

Upcoming panelists and speakers include Dr. Jane Goodall DBE, Wyclef Jean, Regina King, Letitia Wright, Tiwa Savage, Keily Blair, Tina Brown, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Sophie Turner, Stewart Copeland, Mati Staniszewski, Ben Lamm and more. The SXSW London film program, to be held at the Barbican, will feature the world premieres of the Eminem-produced documentary Stans, Olivia Cappuccini's intimate documentary Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf, and Tom Kingsley's comedy Deep Cover, as well as the UK premiere of The Life of Chuck. Plus, the music program is being headlined by Mabel, Tems, NAO, Alice Glass, Lila Ike, Sasha Keable, Idris Elba, and more.

SXSW London runs from June 2 to 6 across venues in London. Mashable is on the ground reporting, so we’ll have more where this came from.