The dust has settled, the crowds have died down, we’ve caught up on our sleep, and we’re finally ready to talk about SXSW 2026.
The first year of SXSW sans Austin Convention Center, which is expected to be complete in time for SXSW 2029, the 40th edition of the festival was shorter and more streamlined than previous years, but equally jam-packed with events.
We wanted to share some of the things we’re taking with us beyond the festival.
Some of our favorite SXSW 2026 quotes:
- “The food’s great, the people are great. [...] (Austin’s) not like other cities.” — Lisa Kudrow, “The Comeback” Season 3 premiere
- “I’m so talented. There are so many areas open to me, it’s hard to pick sometimes.” — Comedian Larry David (We need some more of this energy sometimes)
- “Education is the only thing that no one can take away from you.” — Masterclass CEO David Rogier
- “There are two types of people: those who use AI so they don’t have to learn anything and they just do what it says, and those who use AI so they can learn anything.” — “Shark Tank” Investor Mark Cuban
Nearly every session was secretly about AI
While we did attend plenty of sessions that were explicitly about AI, we weren’t expecting to hear Andy Cohen talk about his new AI avatar in the “Bravoverse,” or listen to YouTubers Rhett + Link talk about their partnership with AI-powered advertising platform Agentio, especially since it wasn’t mentioned in the session descriptions.
The takeaway: AI isn’t its own conversation anymore — it’s a piece of daily life.
Speakers said AI will not replace humans, but it could dramatically change our lives
Mark Cuban took to the stage to talk about how he frequently uses AI, but that doesn’t mean he thinks it’s going to surpass, or even reach, the abilities of humans.
“What we’ve considered to be brilliant, genius AI isn’t as smart as my puppy, isn’t as smart as a 2-year-old, and it probably won’t be for the foreseeable future,” Cuban said, adding that he would trust said puppy to lead him across a busy street before he trusted AI.
That said, Cuban also said he believes using the technology will eventually allow employees to cut their workload by hours, and that early adopters of AI will be the winners in their fields in the end.
The takeaway: “People always have the advantage. Always.” — Mark Cuban
SXSW doesn’t need a convention center to survive or thrive
Even though this version of the festival was shorter by a few days, there was still equally as much, if not more, to explore. Since most SXSW sessions took place in venues other than the Austin Convention Center in years prior, we found it easy to adjust to the festival without a home base. In fact, we didn’t really notice a difference without the convention center, but the compressed schedule made our days packed.
The takeaway: We’re excited for the new Austin Convention Center, but SXSW’s growing pains seem minimal in the interim.
Local musicians took center stage
166 artists with ties to Austin took the stage, which is the most since 2023, when 175 locals performed. Both years represented much more than 2025 and 2024, which featured 112 and 108 local musicians, respectively.
The takeaway: As long as Austinites keep performing, they have a place at SXSW.
