• Watch the announcement video here

• For hackathon details, go here: https://shorturl.at/oEMV2

Introduction

Did you go to OpenAI Dev Day?

Chances are that you didn’t. But who cares, we have AI Tinkerers at home.

We’re back with another meetup. There’ll be a ton of AI / LLM app demos (from the first Ottawa-based generative AI hackathon), light beverages and good company on a cozy night. Plus, we’re making sure you’re up-to-date with the latest development in AI & LLM with a short presentation on what you might have missed in November in AI.

Quick summary:

• The monthly meetup is happening as usual, on November 27th, 5:30pm EST.

• RSVP at the top of this page for the upcoming in-person meetup.

• Starting on November 1st, we run a remote 100%, generative AI hackathon, with prizes from LangChain, Gadget and Invest Ottawa. The hackathon ends at 10am EST on November 27th.

• Details for the hackathon can be found here https://shorturl.at/oEMV2. Submit a project and be eligible to receive a prize at the in-person meetup. (Submit your project here)

• You don’t have to join the hackathon to go to the in-person meetup.

Event schedule

• 5:30PM: Doors open and networking.

• 6:30PM: Presentation: past meetup recaps and what you might have missed in November in AI & LLM.

• 7:00PM: Demos start.

• 8:00PM: Quick break and networking

• 8:30PM: Hackathon winners revealed

• 9:00PM: Go home.

There will be drinks and appetizers served, courtesy of our sponsors.

Who are AI Tinkerers?

Our city didn’t have a space for AI / LLM practitioners to share knowledge and code without being bothered by businesses pitching their products and services.

So we started a thing.

Join us at our next meetup by subscribing for updates here: ottawa.tinkerer.ai

And join our Discord

AI Tinkerers Ottawa organizers:

• Hai: Founder @ Cats with Bats
• Greg: Principal Developer @ Solace
• Abror: Engineer @ DreamLinked
• Eric Fillion: author of Happy Transformer

Photos from previous meetups

Meetup 1

Greg giving a 1.5 hour workshop on running open-source LLMs in Google Colab.

Meetup 2

Eric Fillion presenting Happy Transformer, an open-source library that he authored to help with fine-tuning HuggingFace models.

Chris Bartholomew demoing LangStream, an event-driven LLM framework by DataStax.

Food and beverages are often sponsored by our partners (in this case, Invest Ottawa)

Hai Nghiem opening the 2nd meetup.

What is AI Tinkerers?

AI Tinkerers is a meetup designed exclusively for practitioners who possess technical, machine learning, and entrepreneurial backgrounds and are actively building and working with foundation models, such as large language models (LLMs) and generative AI.

If you’re deeply passionate about creating LLM-enabled applications, have hands-on experience in building such systems, and are eager to connect with like-minded individuals who share your level of commitment, then this group is the perfect fit for you.

With AI Tinkerers meetups taking place in multiple cities, we cater to a dedicated community of practitioners.

Who is this for?

We’re not “AI Enthusiasts”, we are AI Tinkerers.

The core essence of AI Tinkerers lies in active collaboration surrounding early-stage discovery and innovation, which requires a high degree of experimentation, vulnerability, openness to sharing challenges and learnings, and collaboration among individuals with a shared level of expertise.

This unique environment allows us to push the boundaries of what’s possible with AI and LLMs while maintaining a strong sense of camaraderie and mutual support.

Photos of AI Tinkerers meetups from around the world

Seattle

San Francisco

👑 Sponsors

The hackathon is sponsored by LangChain, Gadget and Invest Ottawa.

The in-person meetup and hackathon are generously sponsored & hosted by Invest Ottawa.

Invest Ottawa helps accelerate your growth and success, leverage the best programs, people and places, and make your mark in Ottawa, a global tech hub and collaborative business community.