Last week, I attended my first ever AWS Summit in London and it was a whirlwind of innovation, pleasant encounters and pure tech excitement. Despite a rocky start (more on that later), the day left me buzzing with inspiration — especially after seeing just how deeply AI is shaping the future of tech. I'm not exaggerating when I say 99% of all the sessions were AI focused.
TL;DR: AI is everywhere and here to stay! 🤖. Slides over stairs 😬. My first AWS Summit was a blast 🚀
A Late Start 🕰️
I’ll admit it — I missed the keynote. London’s infamous morning rush coupled with a wrong turn on my way down from Nottingham meant I arrived just as the opening speech was wrapping up. That minor setback didn't dampen my enthusiasm for long though. The palpable energy radiating from the bustling crowds and vendor stalls, along with the exciting schedule of sessions and workshops ahead, assured me the day held much more in store.
With my badge in hand, I strode purposefully inside.
A few fascinating stops ✨
My introduction to the event was immediately captivating. I walked straight into a live rap battle unfolding between an AWS employee and an AI, with a separate AI presiding as judge. Donning my wireless silent disco headphones, I found myself nodding along to the beat, bobbing my head along with the grinning audience as the AI competitor delivered flawless rhymes. The AI judge, perhaps predictably, declared its digital counterpart the winner. The spectacle was both deeply impressive and a little unsettling. It felt a bit dystopian and vividly demonstrated that LLMs are now capable of far more than just generating code or writing essays.
I also had the opportunity to attend a GitLab-hosted Fireside Chat on Innovating with AI in Regulated Industries. Chris Hutchinson, Director of Enterprise ToolChain at Barclays, shared his experience deploying GitLab Duo as the foundation of their enterprise pipelines. Having last used GitLab over a year ago, I was impressed by their relatively new AI-powered GitLab Duo offering. Hearing firsthand accounts of its capabilities, from suggesting security fixes to generating CI/CD pipelines, left me desperately wanting to head back home and git it a try!
Another interesting session I attended was one about agentic AI. If you're not too familiar with what agentic AI is, it is...
... a form of Artificial Intelligence systems that can autonomously plan, act, and adapt to achieve complex goals—like a self-directed "agent."
Imagine simply prompting an LLM with "book me a 5-day Bali holiday" and instantly, a Task Breakdown Agent dissects this into sub-tasks e.g. find the cheapest London-Bali flights, book a central 4-star Bali hotel, research/book a Bali cultural activity, and identify top-rated Bali restaurants. Then, Specialist Agents like a Flight Agent scours platforms for optimal flight fares, a Hotel Agent compares options and seeks perks, an Activity Agent handles bookings and calendars, and a Dining Agent reserves suitable restaurants. So from that simple prompt you don’t just get suggestions, you actually get things done!
Or imagine another scenario where you tell agentic AI to write code → test it → deploy it to production → monitor for failures → self-heal code vulnerabilities → roll back fixes automatically when needed etc. Pretty incredible right?
It was no doubt the standout session for me. The potential for autonomous, self-improving systems is mind-blowing when you really think about it.
Unexpected Reunions 👋🏾
One of the other highlights of the summit was undoubtedly reconnecting with former colleagues and classmates. I ran into a university peer and an old coworker, and it was genuinely nice to catch up with familiar faces. We swapped stories about career changes, AWS cloud certifications and the rapid advancements in AI. Seeing how much everyone has achieved was truly inspiring.
Last but not least 🛝
The Snowflake stand had a slide! Not a metaphorical one — an actual, physical slide from the first floor to the ground floor. Obviously, I took the express route down because if there’s one thing tech conferences need more of, it’s playful moments between all the futuristic talks.
Leaving Inspired 💫
By the end of the day, one thing was clear: AI isn’t just a tool anymore — it’s a collaborator, a competitor (in rap battles, at least), and a catalyst for reimagining how we build tech. Whether it’s GitLab Duo streamlining DevOps or multi-agent systems redesigning workflows, the future is being written in code—and AWS Summit 2025 gave me a thrilling preview.
Till the next one!
