AI Hot Takes #5: Websummit After Parties

We spent the night drifting between Web Summit after-parties, and the vibe shifted the moment people stepped away from the daytime panels. People wandered off the dance floor for a breath, still in a good mood, and started unloading their own thoughts. The conversations jumped from capitalism to hype cycles to the future of pizza. No stage energy. No performance. Just people processing the week in a loose, funny, honest way.

Some of the strongest takes from the night:

“There’s a lot of fear around AI. The more you avoid it, the more you fall behind.”

“Everything is AI, who the f*** cares. Automations have been around for ten years. It’s a buzzword.”

“We need AI that enhances human connection. Most AI today is extractive and promotes individualistic thinking.”

“No one could explain their product. It was just AI-this, AI-that, agentic agentic. Buzzwords everywhere.”

People drifted into the future too:

“The future of pizza is AI. You’ll call, the AI will answer, give you suggestions, and confirm delivery in exactly ten minutes.”

“In five years we’ll have AI vocal controls in every program. We’ll guide the computer while it builds the entire 3D asset or video game.”

“One company that took forty people four years, I can now build with two people in three months.”

And of course, there were warnings:

“We will hit a roadblock. AI will always be limited by the input we give it. Humans still have a place.”

“A lot of solutions are being created without a real problem to solve.”

“I’m afraid AI will polarize society into only two ways of living.”

“You have to be critical. The bubble will burst, but nobody wants it to because people’s savings depend on it.”

“Capitalism is at play. People prioritize profit over people and planet.”

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who paused between songs to talk about something real. The after-party conversations at Web Summit always reveal a different side of the AI story. It’s messy, emotional, sometimes chaotic, sometimes brilliant.