"Goodbye GIL: Exploring the Free-threaded mode in Python" - Adarsh Divakaran (PyCon AU 2026)

(Adarsh Divakaran) Python 3.13 was the first Python version released with a free-threaded mode. Although the default interpreter still utilizes the GIL, it provides provisions that enable us to run a free-threaded version of the interpreter with the GIL disabled. Through this talk, we’ll set up and run the free-threaded interpreter, benchmarking it against the GIL-enabled version for various tasks. We'll assess the impact on single-threaded vs multithreaded code and test the performance across CPU-bound and I/O-bound tasks, aiming to identify scenarios where free-threaded Python excels. https://2026.pycon.org.au/schedule/RQ7STH/ python, pycon, australia, programming, conference, technical, developers, panel, sessions, libraries, frameworks, community, sysadmins, students, education, data, science Videos licensed as CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 PyCon AU is the national conference for the Python programming community, bringing together professional, student and enthusiast developers, sysadmins and operations folk, students, educators, scientists, statisticians, and many others besides, all with a love for working with Python. Licensed as CC BY-NC-SA - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Produced by Next Day Video Australia: https://nextdayvideo.com.au Thu Aug 27 14:40:00 2026 AEST (UTC+10) at Ballroom 2