TechCrunch's AI stage, taking place in San Francisco from October 27-29, features a powerhouse that has disrupted, officially locked and loaded 2025, shaping the future of artificial intelligence.
Join the character leadership and embrace the voices of Face, Melkor, runways, waves and more top technology, working on everything from generative AI and developer tools to self-driving cars, creative machines and national security. Founders will first see the technologies that define the next wave of innovation and hear strategies, lessons and insights directly from the teams building them.
Do you need front row seats to the future of AI in scaling, investment and building? The AI stage is where everything happens. Plus, there are no other breakouts, roundtables, breakthroughs, networking. Sign up by September 26th and save up to $668.
Complete AI Stage Agenda
Explore the AI stage and the complete agenda of all TechCrunch.
Bet on the next wave: What VCS wants in AI startups
With Irene Lee, founder of Cowboy Venture. Steve Jang, Founder, Kindred Ventures; Jon McNeill, founder of DVX Ventures, former COO of Lyft and president of Tesla
Discover what opportunities are realistic, what hype is, and how founders can navigate the turbulence of AI's next frontier. Learn which areas are the most potential and what common pitfalls to avoid.
Drive intelligence
With Alex Kendall, CEO of Wayve.
TechCrunch Events
San Francisco | October 27-29, 2025
Explore AI-first autonomous driving and races to develop end-to-end autonomous systems with real-world data. Learn which breakthroughs allow progress and which barriers remain.
The future of movement intelligence and physical AI
With Jeff Cardenas, CEO of Apptronik. Raquel Urtasun, CEO of Waabi
From autonomous tracks to humanoid robots, AI is moving beyond the screen into the physical world. Discover how close you are to the large-scale deployment and the remaining challenges.
Why the next frontier is search
With Edo Liberty, CEO of Pinecone
As the generator AI forms the way information is searching and using, vector searching is becoming the hidden backbone of the next wave of applications. Where is this technology heading? And what does it mean for startups?
Embracing your face and shaping the AI stack
Co-founder and CSO Thomas Wolf hugs his face
The infrastructure that powers AI is evolving rapidly. Hugging Face's CSOs will disrupt the fight over the models, frameworks and platforms that define the AI stack of the future.
Image credit: Hugging facial vibe coding? cute. Now, let's get real and talk about AI built for developers
Working with Kirill Skrygan, CEO of JetBrains
Forget the Parler tricks – what does AI mean for developers who actually write code every day? JetBrains CEOs will dig into tools that follow and not.
Reciprocating ai: character.ai in spotlight
CEO, Karandeep Anand of Charition.ai
From conversation bots to realistic digital personalities, Charition.ai is reconstructing the interactions of human computers. Conversational AI buildings can gain unique insights.
A place where creative machines and AI are full of imagination
Soyoung Lee, co-founder and GTM, 12 labs. Nikola Todorovic, co-founder, CEO and CEO of Autodesk Company. Prateek Dixit, co-founder of Pocketfm
See how AI drives next-generation content creation and how it builds products that attract millions of users across media, entertainment and education.
Image credit: Diego Donamaria/Getty Images for SXSW Ads to Movies: Created with Code
With Alejandro Matamara Ortiz, the runway chief design officer.
Generated videos are no longer science fiction. It shapes today's advertising, films and creative workflows. Runway co-founders unpack the next place where creative AI heads.
Love, Lies, and Algorithms: The Truth About AI in Mind Problems
Dr. Amanda Gesselman, Head of Research and Analysis at Kinsey Institute. Eugenia Kuyda, Head of Products and Founder of Tinder; Replika
AI is reconstructing relationships and human interactions. Discover how next-generation dating and connections are influenced by intelligent algorithms and what founders need to know in this field.
What startups can learn from the Google Cloud AI playbook
With Will Grannis, CTO and Google Cloud
Learn practical lessons from one of the world's most advanced AI operations. We explore strategies that startups can adopt, pitfalls to avoid, and ways to scale AI at every stage.
Building intelligence for modern defense
With Ethan Thornton, CEO of Mach Industries.
Defense is becoming one of the fastest frontiers in AI. The founder and CEO of Mach Industries shares how startups shape the next generation of national security technologies.
Image credit: Slava Blazer Photography/Flickr (Opens in new window) Innovation with AI and high stakes races in national security
With Kathleen Fisher, director of DARPA. Sri Chandrasekar, Managing Partner, Point 72; Justin Fanelli, CTO, US Department of the Navy
National security is embracing AI at an unprecedented speed. Explore opportunities, challenges and high-stakes decisions that will shape the future of defense technology.
AI meets the future of work
With Brendan Hoody, CEO of Melkor
Employment, training and productivity are actively redefine by AI and automation. Discover how these changes will affect the future of work and what founders should know.
Smarter Streets: How AI drives the future of transportation
Praveen Naga, CTO, Uber. Dave Ferguson, co-founder and president of Nuro
You can first see how AI is transforming the future of vehicles, delivery, and mobility.
Get access to the AI stage now and lock your savings
Don't miss out on the future of AI. From robot demonstrations to in-depth discussions on AI ethics, now is the time to secure last-minute savings of up to $668 on TechCrunch, destroying the 2025 pass. Sign up now on September 26th before 11:59pm.