Join us at PyCon US 2026 in Long Beach - we have new AI and security tracks this year
PyCon US 2026 returns to California for the first time since 2013, bringing with it two brand-new dedicated tracks focused on AI and security. The conference runs May 13 through May 19 in Long Beach, and the additions signal that AI development has moved from niche conference top...
Simon Willison, writing on his personal weblog at simonwillison.net on April 17, 2026, announced the details of this year's PyCon US conference in Long Beach, California. Willison is not just a spectator at the event. He is serving as the in-room chair for the new AI track, responsible for introducing speakers and keeping the day running on schedule. His post breaks down the full AI track schedule, offers context on the conference's history, and makes a direct case for why Python developers should attend.
Why This Matters
PyCon US is the largest annual gathering of Python developers in the world, drawing more than 2,000 attendees, and the decision to carve out full-day dedicated tracks for AI and security is not cosmetic. This is the Python Software Foundation formally acknowledging that AI engineering is now a core Python discipline, not a specialty subfield. The AI track is sponsored by NVIDIA and Anaconda Inc., which means serious industry money is backing what was once purely community-driven programming. For developers building AI agents right now, this conference is one of the few places where you can get eight hours of focused, peer-reviewed technical content on exactly that problem.
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The Full Story
PyCon US 2026 runs from May 13 to May 19 at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center at 300 East Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach, California. The core conference talks happen over three days, from Friday May 15 through Sunday May 17, with tutorial days on May 13 and 14, and development sprints wrapping things up on May 18 and 19. The West Coast location is notable. This is the first time PyCon US has landed on the West Coast since Portland, Oregon in 2017, and the first time it has been held in California since Santa Clara in 2013.
The headline addition this year is the introduction of two standalone tracks. The AI track, officially titled "The Future of AI with Python," runs on Friday May 15. The Security track runs on Saturday May 16. Both are included with a standard conference pass, meaning no additional registration cost beyond what attendees already pay. These are the first time in PyCon US history that day-long blocks have been dedicated exclusively to either of these topics.
The AI track was organized by track chairs Silona Bonewald of CitableAI and Zac Hatfield-Dodds of Anthropic. The schedule packs eight talks into a single day, starting at 11:00 AM with Paolo Melchiorre presenting on AI-assisted contributions and how they affect maintainer workload, and closing at 5:15 PM with Camila Hinojosa Añez and Elizabeth Fuentes on building real-time voice agents in Python. In between, speakers cover running large language models on consumer laptops using quantization techniques, async patterns built specifically for AI agents, distributing AI inference directly in web browsers, GPU memory management, and an AI-powered approach to identifying low-resource African languages.
The breadth of that schedule is worth pausing on. A year or two ago, the AI sessions at most Python conferences clustered around data science and model training. The 2026 AI track reflects a different reality: developers are now shipping voice agents, running inference on edge devices, optimizing GPU memory in production, and dealing with the downstream effects of AI tools on open source project maintenance. That shift happened fast, and the conference schedule shows the community is catching . Willison notes that he has been attending PyCon for over twenty years, his first visit dating back to 2005, and describes it as one of the least corporate-feeling large conferences he attends. Beyond the scheduled talks, the conference features lightning talk sessions that draw heavy attendance, the PyLadies auction, open spaces where attendees can organize impromptu sessions, and development sprints where contributors can work directly alongside project maintainers. A job fair is also scheduled for May 17.
Key Details
- Conference dates: May 13 to May 19, 2026, at 300 East Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach, California 90802
- Core talks run Friday May 15 through Sunday May 17
- AI track runs all day Friday May 15, Security track runs all day Saturday May 16
- AI track chairs: Silona Bonewald (CitableAI) and Zac Hatfield-Dodds (Anthropic)
- AI track sponsors: NVIDIA and Anaconda Inc.
- 8 confirmed talks on the AI track, beginning at 11:00 AM and ending at 5:15 PM
- Conference draws more than 2,000 attendees annually
- Last PyCon US in California was Santa Clara in 2013
- Simon Willison has attended PyCon continuously since 2005, a span of over 20 years
- Registration is open now and AI and Security tracks require no additional fee
What's Next
The conference begins in less than four weeks, so developers planning to attend need to register and arrange travel to Long Beach now, with organizers specifically recommending against commuting from Los Angeles due to traffic logistics. After the event, the Python Software Foundation typically publishes recorded talks and lightning talks, extending access to anyone who could not make the trip. Watch for the sprint days on May 18 and 19 to produce concrete contributions to AI-adjacent Python libraries, which will likely surface in changelogs and release notes shortly after.
How This Compares
The decision to add a dedicated AI track puts PyCon US in line with what PyCon APAC and EuroPython have been doing in their regional editions, where AI programming has been growing steadily since 2024. But the NVIDIA and Anaconda sponsorships at PyCon US represent a level of commercial investment that the regional editions have not matched, suggesting the US conference is becoming the de facto venue for AI-focused Python community standards.
Compare this to what happened at PyData Global 2025, which has traditionally been the home for data science and ML content within the Python orbit. PyData has long owned that territory, but PyCon US pulling AI topics into its main conference, under community governance rather than a corporate conference model, puts competitive pressure on events that have relied on owning that niche.
It is also worth placing this alongside what has been happening at developer conferences outside the Python ecosystem. Google I/O and AWS re:Invent have featured AI tools and agent-focused content for the past two years, but those events are vendor-driven by design. PyCon US adding an AI track under community leadership, with speakers from open source projects alongside people from Anthropic and NVIDIA, produces a different kind of content: peer accountability without a product demo agenda. That distinction matters a lot for developers who want practical guidance rather than sales material.
FAQ
Q: Do I need a separate ticket for the AI or Security track? A: No. Both the AI track on May 15 and the Security track on May 16 are included in the standard PyCon US 2026 conference pass. You do not need to purchase any additional access or registration beyond the main conference ticket.
Q: What topics does the PyCon US 2026 AI track cover? A: The AI track covers eight talks across topics including running large language models on consumer laptops, building voice agents in Python, async programming patterns for AI agents, GPU memory management, browser-based edge inference, and how AI tools are changing the workload for open source project maintainers.
Q: Can I watch PyCon US 2026 talks if I cannot attend in person? A: The Python Software Foundation has a strong track record of recording and publishing conference talks after the event. While the live experience includes sprints, open spaces, and networking that cannot be replicated remotely, the recorded talks are typically made publicly available within weeks of the conference closing.
PyCon US 2026 arrives at a moment when the Python community's relationship with AI has shifted from curiosity to operational reality, and the new track structure reflects exactly that. Developers who attend will leave Long Beach with a clearer picture of where Python-based AI development is heading in the second half of 2026. Subscribe to the AI Agents Daily weekly newsletter for daily updates on AI agents, tools, and automation.
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