Pharrell Williams kicks off Web Summit tech event

One of Europe’s biggest tech events, Web Summit, launched on Monday in Lisbon with pop superstar Pharrell Williams among those taking to the stage.

The get together runs until Thursday, with some 3,000 startups pitching their products to 1,000 investors, and 70,000 visitors taking part in events and debates, according to the organizers.

On Monday, the launch event included speeches from Portuguese politicians, entrepreneurs and a discussion on artificial intelligence, which is expected to be the dominant theme of the event.

Prominent AI critic Max Tegmark, President of Future of Life Institute, renewed his warnings that humanity was doomed if it failed to pass stiff regulations before the emergence of artificial general intelligence—a notional superintelligent AI able to dominate humans.

He criticized the narrative that pitted great powers against each other in a competition to dominate the field, commenting: “It’s not an arms race between the US and China, it’s a suicide race.”

Williams, singer of “Happy” and winner of many Grammy awards, rounded off the night with a wide-ranging discussion about his early life, inspirations and hopes for the future.

“The American dream is not about making the most money,” he said.

Instead, he called for a “human dream” that “should be about spending the most time doing something that you love”, getting raucous cheers from the audience.

Organizers were keen to move on from last year’s edition when Google, Meta and a string of other firms pulled out after Web Summit chief executive Paddy Cosgrave accused Israel of war crimes in Gaza.

Cosgrave stepped down but has since returned to his post.

On the opening night, he did not address the controversy, saying simply: “It’s good to be back.”

© 2024 AFP