It's been almost a month since South by Southwest 2025, and since the event reverberates throughout the whole year – and even further –, we wanted to take this time to reassess and evaluate all that we saw and discussed in Austin before preparing our wrap-up article (in case you missed it, we published daily articles live from the festival while it happened!). 

Our world is changing fast, from economic scenarios to technology, and this year SXSW looked deeply not only into how it is changing, but into what we can do to better navigate it, and what matters and will keep mattering amidst all these modifications. In this context, it was already on the first day of the event that we announced the word of the year from SXSW: connection. Between people, between customers and brands, between humans and technology, between communities, and within ourselves. 

Bringing it to our own world of cross-border payments, international businesses, and Latin American markets, connection can be built upon a deep understanding of consumers, hyper-personalization, frictionless payment experiences, and assertive communication. As the experts in Austin showed, when connection is a key value, the technology you use or do not use is not really what matters, but what you bring to your customers that is innovative and aligned with their expectations and demands. 

In this article, we bring you the best and most relevant insights and recurring discussions from South by Southwest that you should not miss and that can make a difference in your business: 

How can Artificial Intelligence best serve us? 

When talking about AI, the buzzword at any industry event anywhere in the world for at least the past 2 years, South by Southwest speakers were really interested in imagining a near-future where we make the most of the technology and leverage it to the best of humanity’s potential: for MIT Technology Review, who share their list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies every year at SXSW, the most relevant application of it today is in Small Language Models, as opposed to the well-known Large Language Models (LLMs).  

Small Language Models are much easier and faster to train and to implement, as they learn from a limited database and not with the entire collection of facts available online, as OpenAI does with ChatGPT. Thus, we can have limited but much more specialized AI agents: a legal firm dealing with contracts, for example, could use AI that understands all about contracts to help with the review process. A gaming merchant could use an agent that deeply knows the company’s customers, their purchasing behaviors, and fraud types. 

On the other hand, truly reliable and autonomous AI agents – one of the main visions we have when we think about AI evolution – are still a long way away. If language models shine in specificity, AI agents are the opposite. Right now, it is still very hard to trust such an assistant enough to actually do things for you, for example, plan a travel itinerary, book the hotels, and schedule appointments– that requires a level of trust and reliability that we still cannot have with AI. IBM’s CEO Arvind Krishna agrees:

“The current generation of AI is not going to get us to the point of Artificial General Intelligence [where it can learn anything, make decisions on its own, and be relied upon completely], but AI is only going to get better and better”. 

Meanwhile, futurist Amy Webb mentioned Multimodal Language Models (MLLMs) and Embodied AI — Artificial Intelligence applied to machines we can interact with, such as robots — as some of the main paths AI is moving towards. She also presented the concept of Living Intelligence (LI): systems that can sense, learn, adapt, and evolve, made possible through Artificial Intelligence, advanced sensors, and biotechnology — an ecosystem of interconnected agents, machines, and biological entities. 

In author and entrepreneur John Hagel’s talk about the untapped potential of AI, the first half of the hour-long speech was focused not on the technology, but on learning and what learning should look like in our times. “We are in the early stages of a very big shift that is changing the economy and society globally”, said Hagel; a time in which change is happening faster and faster. In this context, existing knowledge can become obsolete very, very fast, so he positions that learning in today’s world should be more focused on creating new knowledge, for which skills such as creativity, imagination and connection are more important than ever. 

That is also aligned with the fact that, in a fast-changing world, the expected paths for businesses and people to follow also change a lot – SXSW discussed how trying to predict the future is not nearly as relevant as being able to adapt as things change, and as helping create that future. For Hagel, the true untapped potential of AI is in supporting the creation of new business models that are not worried about scalability or cost-reduction, but in freeing up time so professionals can dedicate themselves more to learning faster and to creating new knowledge faster – which also leads to more adaptability. 

As is the general consensus around South by and beyond, AI by itself is “nothing” to the customer — what matters is the improvements and benefits you create for them, and within the company, with it. 

Quantum Computing’s world-changing potential 

Another technology that South by looked deeply into was Quantum Computing. “It is going to surprise us before the decade is over”, declared the CEO of IBM, Arvind Krishna. 

Charina Chou, COO of Google Quantum & AI, highlighted that the main focus in terms of quantum hardware right now is building reliable, scalable quantum computers, which run on qubits. Unlike regular bits, used in traditional computing, qubits can exist in a 0 state, in a 1 state, or in any combination of those. This allows quantum computers to run much, much faster than regular or even supercomputers, and to consider a much larger number of probabilities in a much shorter period of time and requiring considerably less energy. As Chou shared, there are problems that would take a supercomputer 10 septillion years, but which could be run by a quantum computer in 5 minutes: at least, that’s what Google’s quantum chip Willow has proved it can do.  

However, building quantum computers is a highly demanding, delicate endeavor, requiring precise conditions, for example, of temperature. They also require a massive quantity of qubits to be able to have any real-world application — 100,000 or more, according to Chou. Then, there is the error rate: the standard the industry is looking for is a qubit that makes 1 mistake in 1 million or more algorithmic steps; so far, Google has been able to achieve 1 error in 1 thousand algorithmic steps. “Quantum is a fragile state”, explained the COO, and qubits can be disturbed by vibration, noise, temperature, or errors can be caused by flaws in the very construction of the qubit. 

Such an innovation can only happen with many specialists involved and research incentives for the development to continue to evolve: “This is a really great and ambitious project, which requires cross-industry and cross-country collaboration”, said Cho, claiming that Google expects to see quantum computing positively impacting business results within 5 years.  

For her, “there is a world of possibilities” ahead as we look into a future with quantum computing, and the technology could really be life changing. In a panel about the technology, IonQ’s Chief Revenue Officer Rima Alameddine quoted a prediction from McKinsey that, by 2035, quantum will be bringing in between US$ 1-3 billion. After all, “almost every industry will be impacted by the problems that quantum will be able to solve”, she declared. “If you don’t invest in quantum now, you are going to miss out — with emerging technology, timing is everything, and the time for quantum computing is now”.  

Charles Chung, IBM’s Lead Engineer for quantum computing, agrees and adds that it will not be possible to build enough quantum computers to support the upcoming demand for them. Of course, not every business benefiting from quantum will need their own computer, just as it is probably not a technology that is going to be available in smartphones or other personal devices any time soon. 

If Charina Chou sees real-world usage of quantum computing happening in 5 years, other experts are more optimistic: for Alameddine and for Vizias’ CEO Jay Boisseau, it could be only 1-3 years away. 

Building value with AI + Quantum 

Highly relevant on their own, the combined potential of AI and Quantum Computing is even stronger. And, in both instances, SXSW looked into the practical use and improvements they can bring to businesses and also to humanity itself. 

For Helen Todd, founder of social media agency Creativity Squared, AI can help us be able to focus more on creation, connection, and awareness of the world around us. “How can AI be used to elevate the best of human potential?”, she shared. For IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, we are always looking for ways to increase our quality of life, and technology such as AI and Quantum Computing can play a massive role in that. 

“Quantum computers are capable of solving problems that are impossible with super computers or AI”, stated Google’s Charina Chou. “But quantum and AI are both probabilistic in nature, and together they could unlock a lot more”.  

As AI cements itself more and more as an undeniable part of our times, the industry starts to shift around it: in another SXSW session, one of the leading American experts in AI, Sandy Carter, cited the Future of Jobs Report 2025 that shows that Artificial Intelligence might have displaced 92 million jobs, but created 170 million more — meanwhile, 1.09 billion positions will continue and evolve. By 2027, she predicts a whole new subset of our economy will emerge: Agent-to-Agent (A2A), with minimal human intervention. And by 2030, humanoid robots powered by AI, she declares, will be a mainstream part of our workforce. 

The challenges and opportunities in reaching today’s customers 

How can we differentiate ourselves and cut through the noise to actually innovate? SXSW looked to find answers from different perspectives, such as what customer-centricity and customer demands look like in 2025, how to (and why) reach one of the most promising target audiences of today, and more about connecting with customers and brands. 

A recurring theme at this year’s South by is longevity and the new needs that come up as humans start to live longer and better. One of these is the strengthening of what is today the core target-audience for many beauty and self-care companies: women in their midlife. 

Women over 50 years old hold a spending power of USD 15 trillion, but are still a demographic severely underserved and overlooked by brands. With women of all ages making 85% of all consumer purchasing decisions, it’s clear that companies should be looking into this group — but, to do that successfully, it’s essential to truly understand what they are looking for. Broadening the conversation, this goes for all businesses that target end-users: their needs and demands are changing fast. Are you keeping up with them? 

Going back to the subject of women in their midlife and how they connect to beauty brands, the key insight from South by is that they are now seeking optimization, not improvement. The beauty industry has historically been “problem-solution”-focused, that is, identifying a customer problem and coming up with a solution for it. Today’s industry is more focused on supporting customers’ beauty rituals, self-care routines, and empowerment instead of “fixing a problem” — it’s fundamental that companies stay in tune with these cultural changes. 

This takes us to another major theme from Austin: how to better reach and connect with your customers, and how to do it more efficiently – especially as the landscape is changing so often and so quickly, creating specific challenges in each segment. 

Nancy Harhut, Chief Creative Officer at HBT Marketing, highlighted how fundamental it is, in marketing and consumer communication, to understand that purchasing decisions are driven by emotion and by many other factors apart from price. Thus, communication must go far beyond trying to get as many customers as possible to know about your brand or your new launch — the number one marketing error she lists is precisely “thinking information will push a customer to buy”.  

This connects to another great panel from the event, in which Senior Marketing Editor Kristina Monllos sat down with Han Wen, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer at L'Oréal USA, and Josh Feldman, NBC Universal’s CMO, for a conversation about the new rules of brand engagement and the role major occasions such as the Oscars and the Super Bowl play for marketing in the age of social media. 

When talking about the most relevant metrics to keep track of to understand the success of a campaign, she stated the importance of not looking only at traditional KPIs, such as the Click-Through Rate on a paid media campaign: a lot of the time, such campaigns are mostly reaching customers that already know and buy from you, not necessarily widening your reach.  “If you are only focusing on performance metrics”, she defended, “sooner or later you’re going to notice you’ve run out of customers”. 

The fundamental pillar for all of that: connection 

Most of SXSW’s speakers mentioned, directly or indirectly, how the times we are living in are challenging in a lot of ways — many of which we can’t even explain, as Amy Webb put it. She calls our time “The Beyond”, a liminal space between the world before and the world that is being created as a result of science, technology, and the decisions that we are making today.  

Especially after Covid-19, and as mental health becomes a more widespread topic, the conversation starts to look deeper into how connecting with others and building meaningful relationships boosts our overall health — and, according to South by’s opening speaker Kasley Killam, can even directly impact our longevity. 

For her, the matter is so urgent that she predicts social health will have the same widespread relevance in 5-10 years as mental health does today. With that, a whole new industry comes and, according to her, “every sector will be disrupted by social health innovation” — including the world of technology, which can come along with new ways for us to meaningfully, intentionally connect with each other, ourselves, and our surroundings. 

As technology evolves, as the world changes, as the culture around us changes, remaining connected to your own – business and personal – purpose is also fundamental, and allows you to adapt in the best possible way to new demands and new needs — in the context of businesses, to the demands and needs of your customers. With that in mind, it’s easier to do as SXSW does and go beyond the hype, implementing technology and innovation in a way that truly supports your business, your teams, and your customers. 

Ultimately, the conversations from South by Southwest 2025 provide not only insights and expert data, but deep reflections that can change the way we look into and plan for the future. To dive further into all we extracted from the event, check out also our day-to-day coverage live from Austin through the links below: 

• Day 1: The power of purpose and connection 
• Day 2: Looking beyond the obvious 
• Day 3: Breaking the mold 
• Day 4: Being part of the conversation 
• Day 5: The potential of AI and Quantum Computing 
• Day 6: Will Quantum Computing change everything? 
• Day 7: An optimistic outlook for the future 

Stay around for more exclusive content from the industry’s leading events!