10-day festival of creativity in Texas between AI, film and music
SXSW 2023 has closed its doors. For ten days in Austin, Texas, global creatives entered different worlds of technology, film, and music to discover new inspirations, make cross-industry connections and imagine our future. The conference highlighted some of the critical thoughts of industry leaders through 25 tracks and sessions curated by the community.
Presentations were central to each day’s programming, including those by actor and best-selling author Priyanka Chopra Jonas, World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés, Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert, and Oscar winner Tilda Swinton, New Order, actor William Shatner and singer-songwriter Margo Price. Featured speakers included OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, who spoke about how artificial intelligence is already changing our lives, from chatbots to professional development software. In addition, a NASA keynote in which the agency revealed a never-before-seen image from space obtained with the James Webb Space Telescope.
Artificial intelligence is driving a revolution in human knowledge, said keynote speaker Ian Beacraft in his feature session ‘How AI and the Metaverse will shape society’. It fundamentally “changes our relationship with work”. Historically, “we were told to specialize [in a trade] to have a successful career,” Beacraft said. “But now we are in an era where artificial intelligence can outperform any individual in a specific area, so specialization becomes a detriment rather than an advantage. Workers need not be worried, however: it is not that artificial intelligence takes away jobs. A person using artificial intelligence will take away a job. We will not lose jobs; we will lose our job descriptions”. In fact, Beacraft predicts that artificial intelligence will facilitate the future of work.
Film & TV Festival
The Film & TV Festival showcased documentaries, TV series, short films and shows. World premieres included the new Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, directed and co-written by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, as well as Swarm by Janine Nabers and Donald Glover. Also, a special screening of John Wick: Chapter 4 and, after nine days, the grand finale with Lee Sung Jin’s Beef and the surprise debut of Ben Affleck’s AIR. At the Film & TV Awards, SXSW celebrated the collaboration between filmmakers and designers by honouring the 2023 Jury and Special Awards winners, including the narrative feature Raging Grace directed by Paris Zarcilla; the documentary Angel Applicant directed by Ken August Meyer; the TV pilot Grown directed by Jocko Sims; and more. In addition, audience votes were decreed to the winners of the Audience Awards 2023.
On the Music Festival stage, many featured artists, from local to international. At the centre were Manchester legends New Order, Japanese punkers Otoboke Beaver, Swiss Latin instrumentalists Hermanos Gutiérrez and South Korean rapper Beenzino. Then the Comedy Festival brought a week full of laughs with the new wave of comedy talent. From stand-up and sketch to improv recordings and podcasts, participants included Eric André, Anthony Atamanuik, Todd Barry, Matt Besser, Katherine Blanford, Abbi Jacobson, Sam Jay, Bob Odenkirk, Patton Oswalt, Nick Thune, Reggie Watts. The Music Festival concluded with the announcement of the winners of the Grulke Prize 2023 – Developing US Act: Blondshell.
SXSW 2023 had ample opportunities to explore, learn, and discover. Hundreds of exhibitors from all over the world provided a glimpse into the future with cutting-edge technology. For example, with the Creative Industries Exhibition, Innovation Awards and Community Service Awards. The 2024 edition will be held from 8-16 March, also in Austin.
