I'm off to Lisbon this weekend for my third Web Summit. Before deciding what to listen for this time, I went back through my notes from 2023 and 2025 and what was reported at the time, and put them next to this year's agenda.
The short version: in 2023 governance was the brake the industry argued about, in 2025 it turned out to be the reason most Ai pilots failed, and in 2026 it's on the main stages as the way to move faster. That's the case I make to clients most weeks, so it was good to see it in session titles.
I've written it up properly on the iS3 site, with the talks that changed my mind, the ones I'm going to this week, and five things worth doing now if you run a UK business and you're building with Ai: What three Web Summits say about Ai governance.
There's also a four-minute film covering the same ground: Inside Web Summit.
I'll post what I actually hear in Lisbon as the week goes on.