Carnegie Mellon Community Shines at SXSW 2025 — an Intersection of Culture, Tech and Innovation
By Jordan Schmitt
South by Southwest (SXSW) annually unites innovators of industry and creative thinkers in Austin, Texas, for a global assembly of technology, film, television, music and more.
Carnegie Mellon University’s rich expertise in technology and artificial intelligence, complemented by a plethora of talent in the arts and entertainment, makes SXSW an excellent venue for community members to showcase their skills.
During SXSW 2025, Carnegie Mellon experts brought their groundbreaking work to new audiences in Austin.
Film and music industry experience in the heart of Austin
Students from the Masters of Entertainment Industry Management program, a joint program between Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy and the College of Fine Arts, have the opportunity to attend SXSW to explore the film and music industry tracks. Students network with working professionals and program alumni, and explore countless invaluable opportunities available in Austin.
Program director and Distinguished Service Professor Daniel Green is responsible for making it happen.
Dan Green, at left, with students in the MEIM program at SXSW.
“I think South By is a great opportunity for the students to come and see how the industry is working in a festival that is rather friendly,” Green reflected. “There are so many opportunities for the students to grow and discover. I think it’s a great opportunity to start to activate what they’ve been learning in Pittsburgh for almost the entire year.”Green, who has served as director of the program since 2009, believes that SXSW provides students with a wide range of industry experience that will benefit them as they prepare to complete the second year of the program in Los Angeles.
“It’s been incredible so far,” first-year MEIM student Matthew Lipschitz said of the program. “I am blown away by the connections that our program director, Dan, has afforded us.”
During SXSW, Green convenes panels with entertainment professionals and Carnegie Mellon alumni working in the field for current students to connect with. They described the immense benefits of hearing from industry experts.
“Broadening our reach within the industry and meeting people that our careers are probably going to intertwine with in different ways has been so exciting,” Lipschitz said.
“I’ve seen the program grow and evolve and become a real powerhouse in the Hollywood community now,” Heinz College professor Jonathan Baker said. “If you look at any company in Hollywood, we’ve got Carnegie Mellon grads there, often at the highest levels, which is an amazing thing to have witnessed. I’m super proud of the program, I’m super proud of the students who have come through and are making their marks now.”
Baker, who has been with the MEIM program since its inception in 2007, had his own reason for being in Austin.
Baker produced “The Dutchman,” a thought-provoking independent film that premiered at SXSW on Saturday, March 8. The movie, directed by Andre L. Gaines, tackles race relations in America with a modern perspective on the historic play.
Jonathan Baker at SXSW for the premiere of "The Dutchman."
“We built the movie from the ground up and it’s been an intense, long process to get it to where it is now. We are grateful to be here at SXSW to be premiering it to this great audience,” Baker said.
The self-proclaimed ‘theater kid’ shared the indescribable feeling of seeing a film travel from its conception, to shooting in New York City, to watching it premiere at the global festival.
“I often tell my students at Carnegie Mellon, being a producer or a filmmaker is a lot like being a parent. You have so much invested in these ‘kids,’ these movies,” Baker explained. “Finally, you’re witnessing it with a crowd of people and they’re responding, and it’s like seeing your kid walk off to college on their own. It’s out there on its own and you just couldn’t be more proud.”
A prime platform for research
The buzz in Austin goes beyond the screen and into the conference itself. SXSW is a place for cutting edge ideas and research to take form.
Sherry Tongshuang Wu and Maarten Sap experienced this energy as they discussed "How to be a Smarter AI User” to a packed room of conference goers.
The School of Computer Science faculty delivered five key considerations for individuals utilizing large-language models (LLMs) in their personal and professional lives.
Maarten Sap speaks at SXSW.
How to Be a Smarter AI User
- LLMs struggle to infer what you mean.
- Solution: Be more structured with your instructions to LLMs.
- LLMs hallucinate and are overconfident.
- Solution: Double verify and think critically about model outputs.
- Solution: Double verify and think critically about model outputs.
- LLMs are privacy liabilities.
- Solution: Be careful what information you provide to LLMs.
- Solution: Be careful what information you provide to LLMs.
- LLMs appear more human than they are
- Solution: Beware of attributing human likeness to AI and avoid anthropomorphic language.
- Solution: Beware of attributing human likeness to AI and avoid anthropomorphic language.
- LLMs don’t work for everyone.
- Solution: Be thoughtful and careful about when/how you use LLMs.
“We really just want people to think twice before they throw anything to the model and make sure they also think twice before they take anything from the model,”Wu said.
At another session, Sarah Fox and Nikolas Martelaro presented their collaboration with transit operators and their unions aimed at understanding the impacts of future technologies on transportation workers. The two explained the potential to leverage AI in "Creating Safer, More Equitable Public Transit Systems."
Their ongoing research involves partnership with the Transport Union Workers of America, the Amalgamated Transit Union and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) Technology Institute.
“We have been really excited to work with our union partners and to learn from real operators what is all the complexity and things that are happening on the road in real transit operations,” Martelaro said. “How can we understand and learn from operators to bring that knowledge into thinking about new technologies?”
Sarah Fox and Nikolas Martelaro at SXSW.
Fox explained that the role of bus operators often goes beyond driving. They are often responsible for balancing the environment of the vehicle and the wellness of passengers.
“Bus operators regularly described unexpected circumstances, both in navigating the road and managing the social environment of the bus. These circumstances often require split-second decision making and nuanced social judgments,” she said.
Students 'Flow' at SWSW
Nina Wang presents "Flow" at SXSW.
Carnegie Mellon student researchers were also on hand to showcase their work.
“Flow,” a project led by Entertainment Technology Center graduate student Linaixuan (Nina) Wang, was a finalist in the 2025 SXSW Innovation Awards, in the Student Innovation category.
The team traveled to Austin to demonstrate “Flow” to judges and interested participants during the SXSW Innovation Awards Finalist Showcase.
"Flow" Trailer
“Flow,” a project led by Entertainment Technology Center graduate student Linaixuan (Nina) Wang, was a finalist in the 2025 SXSW Innovation Awards, in the Student Innovation category.
Wang credits state-of-the-art facilities offered by the ETC and support of the center’s faculty for the project’s success.
“Flow” was also named the winner of the Communication Arts 2025 Interactive Competition.
“We want the audience to fully immerse in this experience and to enjoy the beauty of the dance, light and shadow, and music throughout the whole experience — the feeling of power that they can interact with the story and be part of the story,” Wang said.