Sam Page
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The internet has been optimised to death.

People and behaviour1 min readSam Page

Jonah Peretti's line at SXSW this year.

His slides broke on stage. He improvised the entire talk. And honestly, it looked like the most human moment of the whole event.

That felt like the theme of SXSW 2026 in general.

Amy Webb killed her own trend report. Esther Perel and Spike Jonze explored why people are falling in love with AI companions. Multiple sessions argued we've reached "peak frictionless" and that effort is becoming valuable again.

Five different talks and the same conclusion: the value of being identifiably human is going up.

I've pulled together the five biggest themes and what they mean for brands.
Link in the comments.

What's your take? Is the human premium real, or are we romanticising something the market has already moved past?

First published on LinkedIn.

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---
title: "The internet has been optimised to death."
url: https://sam-page.com/thinking/the-internet-has-been-optimised-to-death
date: 2026-04-09
author: Sam Page
type: Post or article
categories: [People and behaviour]
reading_time: 1 min
summary: "Jonah Peretti's line at SXSW this year."
first_published: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn%3Ali%3Ashare%3A7448102986150539264
---

# The internet has been optimised to death.

Jonah Peretti's line at SXSW this year.

![](https://sam-page.com/img/thinking/the-internet-has-been-optimised-to-death-li1.webp)

His slides broke on stage. He improvised the entire talk. And honestly, it looked like the most human moment of the whole event.

That felt like the theme of SXSW 2026 in general.

Amy Webb killed her own trend report. Esther Perel and Spike Jonze explored why people are falling in love with AI companions. Multiple sessions argued we've reached "peak frictionless" and that effort is becoming valuable again.

Five different talks and the same conclusion: the value of being identifiably human is going up.

I've pulled together the five biggest themes and what they mean for brands.  
Link in the comments.

What's your take? Is the human premium real, or are we romanticising something the market has already moved past?