Web Summit 2025: AI agents, ethics, democratisation… artificial intelligence enters its industrial age

Less spectacular in form but richer than ever in technological substance, the event marked the beginning of a new era in which the industrialisation of AI — and the reflection on ethical and responsible AI — now takes centre stage. Even Paddy Cosgrave, the founder of Web Summit, acknowledged it: “Europe is no longer as dynamic as it once was in creating high-quality startups.”

Yet creativity has not disappeared; it has simply moved. Eastwards, towards China… and above all towards AI, now omnipresent across every sector.

AI becomes the operating system of the global economy

If one concept had to be remembered from the 2025 edition, it would undeniably be: the AI agent.
AI agents were everywhere — in talks, on stands, in informal discussions. A groundswell demonstrating that artificial intelligence no longer merely assists: it orchestrates, automates and executes.
Numerous startups presented concrete solutions across five main areas:

• The automation of work, thanks to copilots capable of handling complex business processes.
• Multimodal content generation integrating text, image, voice and video.
• Enhanced customer experience, where intelligent agents personalise interactions at scale and handle support, sales and personal shopping.
• Predictive cybersecurity capable of detecting threats before they materialise.
• The democratisation of AI, enabled by vibe coding.

The overall impression is one of a hyper-fragmented market: everyone is seeking their place in an ecosystem where established players now integrate AI capabilities natively, making differentiation increasingly difficult. The era of prototypes is over. AI has become a tool for production, productivity and performance.

Health & wellbeing: explosion of AI assistants and the longevity market

While health was already a strategic axis for the sector, 2025 marks a spectacular acceleration:

AI assistants everywhere

• Assisted diagnosis for doctors
• Personalised nutritional coaching
• Support fir chronic illnesses
• Advanced medical analysis via autonomous agents

The longevity boom

Startups in longevity, regenerative medicine and biological age optimisation received exceptional visibility.

The “business of death” taking centre stage

Between insurance, digital estate management, automated end-of-life planning and augmented memorial services, a new segment is emerging: deathtech, now fully embraced on stage.

Intelligent agents: a golden age… and agentic bullshitting

As with every technological revolution, the rise of agents brings its share of opportunism. Many participants at Web Summit proudly displayed “agents” on their slides… without any real substance behind them. This phenomenon, dubbed “Agentic Bullshitting” by several speakers, reflects the rush towards a new magic word, more marketing than technical.

But beyond the exaggeration, the concept of the agent remains fundamental: an AI capable of acting, making decisions and interacting with complex systems.
In essence, the promise of a true autonomous digital operator — a paradigm shift comparable to the arrival of the smartphone or the cloud.

Brands Facing the Encapsulation of the Internet by OpenAI

One of the strongest messages from Web Summit 2025 concerns the transformation of the digital experience. Brands can no longer simply exist through a website or an app: they must rethink the way they interact with users.

Why? Because access to the Internet is changing in nature.
OpenAI, with ChatGPT and its ecosystem of connected agents, is increasingly encapsulating the web.
Users will no longer seek out a brand; they will converse with an assistant, which will choose for them. In this new paradigm, visibility is negotiated differently: through integration, interoperability and data value.

Keynotes focused on responsibility and sovereignty

Several keynotes left a lasting impression with their clarity:

• Max Tegmark (MIT) reminded the audience that 95% of Americans do not want AGI — an artificial general intelligence capable of understanding, learning and reasoning like a human across any topic. The majority prefer a useful, pragmatic AI designed to solve real-world problems. According to him, pursuing this form of autonomous and versatile intelligence poses major risks to humanity.
• Brad Smith (Microsoft) warned about the AI Divide — nearly 4 billion people remain excluded from the AI revolution due to lack of access to technology and training.
• Lovable, the rising startup in AI-assisted development, delivered an inspiring keynote: “AI does not replace developers, it elevates them.” Its founder advocates hybrid teams where humans and AI work together at augmented speed.
• Finally, China’s presence stood out as a political signal: a series of talks highly focused on soft power, aiming to reposition China as a global driver of artificial intelligence and robotics.

Conclusion: a pivotal Web Summit

Web Summit 2025 was not a festival of major announcements but a revealing moment of an era shift.

We are entering:

• an agent-driven economy,
• massive automation across professions,
• a reinvention of the software development cycle,
• a profound transformation of healthcare,
• a retail landscape where humans co-decide with AI assistants,
• a technological geopolitical arena where every country asserts its sovereignty.

It marked a turning point: artificial intelligence has become the invisible infrastructure of the economic world. It connects, automates, recommends and produces.
AI no longer merely assists: it acts — sometimes better than us, often faster, always in a networked manner.

Innovation is no longer measured by technology itself, but by the ability to integrate it with meaning and responsibility.

A transitional edition, then, but above all a clear signal that 2026 will be the year of consolidation, confrontation and maturity for AI ecosystems.