10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2024

From AI-powered composition and artwork creation to voiceprints and curated playlists, AI is changing the way artists create and market their music, and engage with their fans. With these new tools comes a new set of challenges and responsibilities for the music industry. Artists can harness the power of AI but it is the responsibility of companies across the industry to ensure that human artistry is supported, not replaced. Panelists will present principles for companies to consider as artists engage with AI opportunities as well as results & lessons learned from early AI pilot programs.  

What if you could see the world like a futurist and be a non-obvious thinker? After exploring the front lines of world changing trends and writing about them for more than a decade, this session will be the exclusive premiere of the new book, Non-Obvious Thinking (coming September 2024) from #1 Wall Street Journal best-selling author and founder and Chief Trend Curator at The Non-Obvious Company Rohit Bhargava. Going beyond offering the usual secretive futurist's tour of emerging trends and scenarios, this session will reveal what it takes to identify trends for yourself and isolate patterns the way futurists do. Based on his own successful work teaching tens of thousands of professionals how to be non-obvious thinkers who anticipate the future, this talk will open the Non-Obvious playbook and reveal exactly how to curate and leverage trends for yourself to help you win in 2025 and beyond.

How can brands and leaders tell stories that inspire human connection and positive action, especially in these anxious and uncertain times? Cheryl Miller Houser offers tactics grounded in the science and craft of storytelling to make people feel part of something bigger than themselves and move them to laugh, to cry, to propel change. Participants from all sectors can apply these tactics to drive success in building brand loyalty, marketing, galvanizing employees, creating community, fundraising and more.   

Join award-winning writers and directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert as they talk about the process of developing, creating, and releasing their surprise hit movie that took the world by st— okay, look, if you’re still reading this, we should tell you that we've run out of new things to say about Everything Everywhere All At Once, so although we’ll try our best to stay on topic, we'll most likely go on a bunch of tangents about the state of the world, the impending climate crisis, the collapse of consensus truth, the rise of AI, the importance and impossibility of self care, and our collective responsibility as storytellers to confront the issues of our time, because that's probably going to be what's on our mind, but we can't make any promises, but at times we don’t feel qualified to talk about any of that stuff, anyway we hope you enjoy our SXSW keynote!  

Women’s representation in media and entertainment has come a long way, but there's still much to be done, especially for women of color and mothers. Social media's omnipresence has raised the stakes, creating an often dangerous environment which has led to serious mental health issues for teenage girls in particular. On International Women’s Day, we’ll hear from visionary female leaders at the forefront of news, media, entertainment and philanthropy who are breaking barriers, challenging stereotypes, and working toward a healthier society on and off our screens.  

Join Amy Webb for the launch of the Future Today Institute's 17th edition of its Tech Trends Report and a deep dive into all the tech trends you'll need to follow in 2024. In this mind-bending session, futurist Amy Webb, CEO of the Future Today Institute and professor at NYU Stern School of Business, will provide a data-driven analysis for the emerging tech trends that need to be on your radar this year––and she’ll show you scenarios that will change your perspective on the futures. For those who have attended this session at previous SXSW festivals and already know what to expect from this session, you'll be in for an extra-special treat this year. 

Each year, MIT Technology Review reporters and editors assemble a list of the top breakthrough technologies that will change the world. In this SXSW Session, Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau, the Publisher and CEO of MIT Technolgy Review will share the publication’s list of ten breakthrough technologies with the SXSW audience, explaining each one and how it will impact the way we live and work.

These last few years have been characterized by prolonged uncertainty when it comes to our health, politics, economy, and beyond. Can you blame us for falling deeper into the siren song of our increasingly predictive technologies? Endless suggestions of what to buy, who to date, what to write, where to turn, and what to listen to next flow right into our palms—fooling us into thinking we have control over this unknowable, messy world. The deluge of perfectly curated feeds doesn't help. Renowned psychotherapist, podcast host, and author Esther Perel wants to know: what is this doing to our relationships? How are our expectations of one another changing? It is possible that “knowing” everything is making us less prepared for the uncertainties and imperfections intrinsic to life and love. Chasing certainty has left us inflexible and socially atrophied. How is this impacting our partnerships, friendships, and communities? Much as we try, we can’t optimize intimacy—or can we?

Our country continues to take steps backward when it comes to civil liberties and voting rights when we should be expanding those rights and making it easier for everyone to participate in the democratic process. In this panel, leaders in the fight for civil rights and voting access will be sharing their insight into how we can expand access to voting for marginalized groups.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), released its first full-color images and spectroscopic data on July 12, 2022. As the largest and most complex observatory ever launched into space, Webb went through a six-month period of preparation before it began science operations with 50 major deployments, careful alignment of the mirrors, and calibrating the instruments. These experts will talk about Webb’s latest scientific discoveries, and how this observatory will continue to explore the uncharted territories of our cosmos, and share a never before seen image from the James Webb Space Telescope.