Curious Company at SXSW 2025

Curious at SXSW 2025: Living Machines, Entertainment, Europe & No Word About Trump

A typical morning in Austin: Should I go see the bio-engineered computers? Or learn how to live to 130 with microdosing? Oh, someone is breeding mammoths? Should I go to the film premiere with Nicole Kidman? And wait, Robert Downey Jr. showed up at Disney – he wasn’t even announced?!? SXSW is pure FOMO.

You don’t need an explanation for this event anymore. Delegations from German mid-sized companies and corporations are now guided through Austin and told that this unique mix of tech, film, entertainment, business, and social as well as health topics doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world (except maybe SXSW London, which is becoming increasingly relevant).

Sometimes ADHD can even help (more on that later). Here are my notes:

Tech: From SLMs to Living Machines

No one is surprised anymore by what AI can do. So some (like Amy Webb) struggled to find something spectacular. I found Scott Galloway and MIT more refreshing, as they honestly explained which of their predictions were simply wrong and why. MIT even had a list of tech that didn’t make the trends (flying taxis and, surprisingly, AI agents – “still too basic, but probably next year”).

• Small Language Models (SLMs): Instead of huge, resource-intensive models, the focus shifts to smaller, locally trained AI models. The Chinese DeepSeek was surprisingly barely mentioned.
• Organoid Intelligence (OI): There are early prototype computers with living, thinking cells. What remains unanswered is why we need to grow AI chips when current “dead” chips work so well.
• De-Extinction: Colossal Bioscience wants to bring extinct animals back to life (unfortunately no dinosaurs). Mammoths allegedly soon, but currently just woolly mice exist.
• Green Steel & Stem Cell Therapies: Sustainable steel production and functional cell therapies are improving, but we are still far from full productivity.
• Virtual Power Plants: Smart, networked energy systems could dominate the future.

Entertainment: Disney, Music & How Robert Rodriguez Shoots a Zombie in 20 Minutes

• Droids & Downey: Disney simply understands entertainment on another level. A harmless manager talk was announced, and then a swarm of AI-trained Star Wars droids entered – alongside Jon Favreau, Kevin Feige, and Robert Downey Jr.! Others talk about AI and robotics – Disney just builds them.
• The Art of the Elaborate Zombie Kill: From Dusk Till Dawn legend Robert Rodriguez explained in detail that smart editing allows films to be made with much smaller budgets, showing an example from his work. He stays true to himself.
• Music is everywhere: Every bar and club has live music of such quality it brings tears to your eyes.

Society: Social Health, Women, and Europe on the Rise

• AI Friends vs. Hugs: We live in a time when AI friends, not drugs, threaten our youth. More and more young people only talk to AI “friends,” a social catastrophe. At the same time, research proves the value of real hugs and physical interaction.
• Women on the Rise: Despite Trump and Musk, women are taking on more responsibility worldwide, while boys fall behind in school and experience isolation – shocking: 4 out of 5 suicides affect men.
• Generation Z should drink more(!) alcohol: Gen Z drinks so little compared to other generations that Scott Galloway seriously said: “Drink more!” Not a joke. The biggest risk in the US today is loneliness. He summed it up: “We overprotect kids offline and underprotect them online. Go out, make bad decisions!”
• Europe is on the rise: The US and Europe were evaluated like stocks. The US is massively overvalued, the EU undervalued. Now everything looks like a correction phase.
• Cows now burp more climate-friendly: People are getting richer worldwide and eat more beef despite the veggie trend, so methane emissions must be tackled differently: a feed additive massively reduces methane emissions from cows.
• Be kind to your ADHD colleagues! Neurodiversity is always a big topic at SXSW. They explained how ADHD affects work, how to use it smartly, and how to support it. Nice quote: “Positive feedback is like watering a plant.”
• He Who Shall Not Be Named: Trump was not mentioned in any talk I attended. A conference discussing what will impact our lives tomorrow does not address what Trump is currently doing to the global economy (and media) – left me speechless. I don’t think engineered computer chips or mammoths will be more relevant in the next 1-2 years than what’s happening in the White House.

Conclusion: More Hope. And the EU Needs Better Marketing!

The US are world champions in optimism. Nowhere are pure ideas rated more positively, nowhere is more money invested in a vision. Problems and failures are simply ignored and they keep going! Europe can learn an incredible amount from this. At the same time, we should allow ourselves more self-confidence. Why US professors have to calculate for us how strong the EU actually is shouldn’t be necessary. The EU needs better marketing. Especially internally. Because now the EU is really taking off! At least, that’s what I heard in the US.