2025 Web Summit opens in Lisbon with AI taking center stage

The 2025 Web Summit opened Monday in Lisbon, Portugal, with artificial intelligence (AI) taking center stage and drawing a record crowd of innovators and investors to explore the future of technology.

The Web Summit, running until Thursday, is expected to welcome more than 71,000 attendees from 157 countries, over 2,500 startups showcasing products and services, and more than 1,800 investors, an increase of 74 percent from last year and the largest number ever to attend the event.

Key topics at this year's event include "vibe coding," a form of programming that uses AI to generate code, with discussions focusing on whether it marks the next major leap or the end of programming, and on who controls AI and who benefits from it.

According to the Web Summit, as AI models are trained on online content, the competition for access and profit is becoming increasingly fierce.

This year's event also includes the China Summit, which features its own stage, dedicated day, and speakers from the media, industry, and academia. The summit's organizers said the objective is to showcase and discuss China's innovations and how the country's economy is racing ahead in areas such as AI, deep-tech scientific research, and industrial transformation.

During the China Summit, panelists discussed how homegrown Chinese tech is dominating so many areas today.

One panelist described how China has gone from what they called a "fast follower" on AI innovation to a "first in class innovator."

Joleen Liang, co-founder of Squirrel AI, spoke about how talent is the most precious assets for AI companies, and how that talent is now being rapidly nurtured in China compared to 10 years ago.

Towards the end of the summit, they discussed China's 15th Five-Year Plan and the role that the state is playing in guiding capital investment, creating an environment which enables and promotes innovation.

The Chinese delegation has brought four exhibiting companies to the Web Summit. One of the most popular booths drawing a big crowd belongs to Unitree Robotics, which is demonstrating their humanoid robot that can replicate human motion including dancing.

The Web Summit, a global conference launched in Dublin in 2009 and moved to Lisbon in 2016, brings together a global community of founders, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors to connect and exchange ideas about the technology and trends shaping the world.

A freight train and a bus collided in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday afternoon, killing at least eight people, local media reported.

At around 15:40, a train collided with a bus at a railway crossing in Ratchathewi District, triggering a fire accompanied by an explosion. Several other cars and motorcycles were also involved.

More than 20 people were injured, according to the Thai transport ministry, as rescuers rushed to the scene to put out the fire and carry out rescue operations.

Deputy Minister of Transport Siripong Angkasakulkiat said in an interview with Thai media that the bus had stopped at the railway crossing due to a red light, preventing the railway barrier from lowering. The freight train was too heavy to brake in time, leading to the collision.