<p>Check out the first talks taking place at Web Summit 2026. We’re adding more every week.</p>
<p>Join us in Lisbon this November for a first look at tech’s future.</p>


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11 November 2024; A general view of Centre Stage during the opening night of Web Summit 2024 at the MEO Arena in Lisbon, Portugal.

Most conversations about AI sovereignty focus on the model: who trains it, who owns the weights, where inference runs. Samar Abbas, co-founder and CEO of Temporal, will talk about the layer underneath: the execution infrastructure that decides whether a company can actually change course later.

AI sovereignty starts with infrastructure

This talk explores the growing divide between open and closed AI, from the promise of openness, transparency and wider access, to the case for proprietary models, greater control and responsible deployment.
What does “open” really mean when it comes to AI? Does openness drive innovation and competition, or introduce new risks? And as the technology evolves, will the future of AI be truly open or closed, or something in between?

What happens if open source wins?

The biggest AI models may get the most attention, but enterprises need more than scale. Join DeepL’s Gonçalo Gaiolas to explore why specialized AI is gaining ground, what the adoption data tells us, and why precision, reliability and trust matter as AI moves into real-world business use.

Moving past generalist hype

The AI boom is driving an unprecedented build-out of chips, data centres, energy infrastructure and computing capacity. But as investment and expectations race ahead, what happens if the returns on that infrastructure fail to match the scale of the capital being deployed?
James Palles-Dimmock, CEO of Quantum Motion, will explore the physical and economic foundations of the AI boom and the vulnerabilities that could emerge if AI investment expectations suddenly change.

The hidden cost of the AI boom

Generative AI dominated software, but physical AI is coming for the real world. Join Robust.AI's John Spinale as he explores whether robotics is approaching its own 'GPT moment, ' where VC capital is actually flowing today, and why "boring" industrial applications are quietly outperforming flashy humanoids.

The evolution of physical AI

Open standards are missing in action, causing custom AI agents to fail when scaling. Join the Linux Foundation's Mazin Gilbert as breaks down how open-source protocols eliminate proprietary lock-in and bridge the gap between impressive lab demos and reliable enterprise execution.

Why AI agents stall at the production line

What actually breaks when you replace executive intuition with predictive models? Join Sam Pasupalak, Co-founder & CEO of Skyfall AI, as he explores what happens when high-stakes strategy, capital allocation, and crisis management are fully handed over to autonomous agents – and whether the ultimate executive move is automating yourself out of a job.

Our first 70 talks are live!

AI sovereignty starts with infrastructure

What happens if open source wins?

Moving past generalist hype

The hidden cost of the AI boom

The evolution of physical AI

Why AI agents stall at the production line

What happens when AI replaces your CEO?

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