The South by Southwest festival returned to Austin, Texas, in full force this year, with discussions on the future of technology, brands, and marketing. Here, we lay out the top trends and takeaways.

Meta announces a new round of layoffs, saving the company $3 billion: The social giant is discontinuing support for NFTs and killing other projects due to declining revenue projections.

Consumers see the potential of AI in clinical care: Patients’ comfort levels with AI in healthcare are mixed, but many are bullish on the tech’s ability to improve outcomes and reduce medical errors.

Generative AI gains momentum across multiple industries: Generative AI, including ChatGPT, has led to a boom as companies and startups alike race to integrate it into their products and businesses find new applications.

This year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona showcased the latest in mobile technologies. Although new smartphones starred, some of the biggest innovations were in other devices and AI.

Generative AI has ample applications within financial services over a three-year horizon, with payments the most promising sector because of its breadth of potential use cases.

B2B marketing leaders have lost their focus on the benefits of email marketing. Email is a key distribution channel, and investments will allow relevant messages with high engagement rates and ROI to be delivered efficiently and effectively.

Meta’s response to ATT could turn off agencies: While AI and automation are improving CPMs, some marketers complain about a lack of control.

The new tool, Shopify Magic, uses AI to help merchants generate product descriptions. So far, Amazon has stayed quiet on generative AI, giving Shopify the chance to gain a competitive edge. But it may not last for long if Amazon decides to get in on the AI craze.

Olive’s problems aren’t AI’s problems: One of healthcare’s most hyped-up AI startups has come crashing down. But don’t expect healthcare players to slow down their AI investments in 2023.

It and other US regulators promised to increase crackdowns on discriminatory behavior. But they must prove it’s not just a timely PR stunt.

Generous returns policies have encouraged shoppers to buy online, but an unsustainable wave of returned goods is forcing retailers to rethink their strategies.

Search seems like a good bet for disruption—sooner rather than later.

Just as the tech blows up in banking, UK startup Evident has created a non-biased index that scores banks on AI development and implementation.

Three fintechs that specialize in anti-money laundering controls—including one powered by AI—caught investors’ eyes amid regulatory crackdowns.

How chatbots can increase patient engagement: A research study by AllianceChicago shows how personalized messages boosted well-child visits and immunizations among minority patients.

We dig into the trends that will power the insurance industry through an economic downturn.

Microsoft hitches its AI wagon to OpenAI’s ChatGPT: Investing $10 billion will give Microsoft 75% of OpenAI’s profits and priority access to innovation it can fold into web search and software solutions.

The regulator’s director, Rohit Chopra, ruled with an iron fist, tackling topics from overdraft fees to artificial intelligence.

Bank of America is giving consumers the capability to seamlessly switch between its AI-powered chatbot and a human agent.