Flower City AI

AI Training

December 3, 2024

The day before the conference, we are pleased to offer an all-day AI Training course. You'll learn how AI works, how to use it with your data, and walk away with the skills you need to use it in your products. The course will be all day, and is an intense mix of instruction and hands-on labs.

Agenda:

Vectors and Embeddings: What they are, how they work, benefits, use cases, and gotchas
Natural Language Processing: Named Entity Recognition, Question Answering, Classification, Summarization
Hybrid Search: Combining multiple search features for success
Generative AI: How it works, benefits, challenges, and risks
Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG): Integrating your data with Large Language Models
Multimodal search: working with images and text interchangeably
Agents and Chaining: Using AI for complex workflows

Location: SPOT Cowork, 104 East Ave, Rochester, NY 14604

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Speakers

Max Irwin

MAX.IO

Max is the founder of MAX.IO LLC, Lumi.RE, and Flower City AI. Max has 24 years of experience in tech leadership and 10 years of experience in AI. As Chief Everything Officer, he builds and sells AI products to businesses that need predictable and scalable solutions. We develop state of the art AI agents, knowledge discovery solutions, and help companies incorporate AI in their customer facing products.

Katie Sabourin

St. John Fisher

Katie Sabourin is an innovative educator and technology enthusiast with a passion for integrating cutting-edge tools into learning environments. In her current role at St. John Fisher University, she serves as assistant vice president for digital learning and the founding director of the DePeters Family Center for Innovation and Teaching Excellence. She leads campus-wide initiatives, including the AI advisory board and iFisher Next Generation Learning Initiative, supports the development of online courses and programs, and provides faculty with guidance on pedagogical strategies and educational technologies across campus.

Nicholas Wilkins

Sign-Speak

Nicholas Wilkins was first introduced to Deaf culture while studying for his degree at RIT. He fell in love with not only the language, but also the thriving and vibrant community. After obtaining a BS in Computational mathematics and MS in Computer Science, he went to further his career as a Software Engineer at Google for two years. Unsatisfied with Big-Tech, he decided to start Sign-Speak with Niko and Yami. Nicholas’s technical expertise spans a wide range of domains including ML, back-end infra, and mathematical models. He is passionate about using deep-tech to improve the equity of modern-day solutions.

Chad Gueli

AdCoach

Chad Gueli is a cofounder and machine learning engineer at AdCoach.ai, and CoPivot. Prior to starting AdCoach, he spent three years testing, improving, and developing machine learning systems as a contractor. Chad has a M.Sc. in applied math and statistics from SUNY Stony Brook, where he studied statistical learning from the perspective of differential geometry and algebraic topology.

Caelen Gold

Compviz.biz

Caelan Gold is a quant working for a local company in town. He is getting his Masters in Analytics at Georgia Tech. Undergrad in Applied Math & Econ Busn. He trades equities, derivatives, real estate, and information using R and Python. He is also the founder of CompViz - a business analytics platform; and Palpatine - a political data science survey, simulation, and management platform.

Crisandra Harrison

Simon Business School

Crisandra is a faculty member at the Simon Business School, entrepreneur, and business strategist. She leads the development of a bespoke AI model to enhance provider efficiency in behavioral healthcare. Her work combines NLP techniques with business strategy to create impactful AI solutions. She also speaks and coaches on AI strategy, team leadership, and entrepreneurship.

Anjaly George

Greater Rochester Enterprise

Anjaly George is an M.S. Data Science student at the University of Rochester. Over the summer, she interned at Bryan R. Harrison, PhD Psychologist, PC, where she leveraged AI technologies to improve healthcare processes, focusing on streamlining workflows and enhancing patient care. Currently, Anjaly is working on applying large language models (LLMs) to extract and analyze medical information from clinical notes, contributing to advancements in data-driven healthcare solutions.

Hernan Chiosso

Productize HR

Hernan is a seasoned HR Innovation consultant and VP of Talent with 25 years of experience building global and remote teams. With a unique background spanning software development, UX design, and HR leadership, he specializes in driving digital transformation through AI, Design Thinking, and Product Management strategies. A polyglot fluent in five languages, Hernan brings a multicultural perspective to his work advising boards and leading HR initiatives.

Valerie Carey

Circle Star

Valerie Carey started her entrepreneurial journey in 2024 after over 10 years as a data scientist. As a contributing writer for Towards Data Science, she explores topics such as algorithmic fairness and model explainability. Her career experience includes software engineering, business analytics, and machine learning, and she holds a PhD from Cornell and BS from Caltech. Valerie loves art, data, and reading. She recently founded circlestar.ai, where natural language technologies are used to build authentic, open-ended human connections.

Tim Snedden

ITX

Born and raised near Hobbiton, New Zealand, Tim Snedden set out on an unexpected journey with a scant $20 in his wallet, two suitcases, and yes, one ring (seriously). Today, Tim leads the UX Writing and Content Strategy practice at ITX where he advocates for clear, compelling communication connecting your users to your product.

Parking

The Little Theatre has a free parking lot off of Winthrop Street, directly behind the historic Theatre 1.

There is additional free parking further down Winthrop Street, in the lot between RDG and Redd Rochester.

On-street parking (paid) is available nearby on Winthrop Street, East Ave, Union Street, Pitkin Street, and Charlotte Street, to name a few.

Additionally, the East End Garage (paid) is just a short walk from the Theatre.

Registration 8AM-9AM	Coffee and Networking Meet in the lobby of Theater #1, get registered, enjoy some coffee, and meet your fellow attendees.
Morning 9AM-9:30AM	Keynote: Flower City AI 2024 Max Irwin
9:35AM-10:20AM	Navigating the Future of Learning: AI’s Influence on Higher Education Katie Sabourin Generative AI is a disruptive innovation in education, challenging traditional methods and compelling institutions to rethink pedagogical approaches... Generative AI is a disruptive innovation in education, challenging traditional methods and compelling institutions to rethink pedagogical approaches, redefine roles, and embrace new tools to stay relevant in an evolving landscape. In this session, we will explore how one local university is adapting both classroom and administrative functions in response to these technological advances. We’ll also discuss the opportunities, challenges, and ethical considerations of integrating AI into the educational experience.
	15 minute break
10:35AM-11:20AM	An AI Case study: Sign-Speak, the Real-Time Sign Language AI Nicholas Wilkins Join us for an in-depth exploration of Sign-Speak’s journey, from ideation to deployment, in creating cutting-edge real-time sign language AI techno... Join us for an in-depth exploration of Sign-Speak’s journey, from ideation to deployment, in creating cutting-edge real-time sign language AI technology. This session will highlight the challenges faced, key lessons learned, and insights gained throughout the design and development process. Discover how Sign-Speak’s innovations can inspire and inform your own AI projects.
11:25AM-12:10PM	Decoding Better Encodings Chad Gueli Every business has documents with unstructured yet valuable information. Accessing these insights improves decision making but has conventionally co... Every business has documents with unstructured yet valuable information. Accessing these insights improves decision making but has conventionally come at a high cost in time and effort. Retrieval augmented generation (RAG) leverages generative AI to accelerate research and successful decision making. RAG encodes documents in large vectors, then compares those encodings to find the information most relevant to the question, making a RAG model only as good as its encodings. In this talk, we will dive deep into what information is probably being encoded, the geometry of the encodings, and benefits of quantization. At the end, we will tie it all together to identify some practical improvements for your RAG system.
Lunch 12:10PM-1:00PM	Lunch will be provided Along with more networking!
Lightning Talk 1:00PM-1:15PM	Measuring the effectiveness of ChatGPT as a writing assistant Tim Snedden When ChatGPT first arrived on the scene as a writer, I was intimidated. There was much hype on one side and fear on the other. To combat this I des... When ChatGPT first arrived on the scene as a writer, I was intimidated. There was much hype on one side and fear on the other. To combat this I designed an experiment to test GPTs for professional-grade writing projects. We discovered that its applications are niche and that--in its current form-- an expert writer beats the AI in terms of cost to produce a high quality deliverable
Afternoon 1:20PM-2:05PM	Dead Internet Theory Caelan Gold Dead Internet Theory is the claim that most of the internet’s content: websites, articles, posts, forums, videos, are mostly generated by algos, AIs... Dead Internet Theory is the claim that most of the internet’s content: websites, articles, posts, forums, videos, are mostly generated by algos, AIs, and bots (oh my) in order to streamline people to subservient thinking on political agendas, economic interests, and social standards (PES framework) developed by governments, large corporations, and elites. Using PES, Caelan is going to go over the theory's historical timeframe, claims and hypotheses, explanations of technology and “artificial intelligence’s” prevalence in the theory, contribute a few missing links, and the natural technique adopted to combatting the Dead Internet.
2:10PM-2:55PM	Artificial Intelligence for Business Crisandra Harrison & Anjaly George Explore how to apply business strategies to identify AI applications and implement them to boost profitability. Designed for AI enthusiasts at all l... Explore how to apply business strategies to identify AI applications and implement them to boost profitability. Designed for AI enthusiasts at all levels, this session breaks down the key steps for integrating AI technologies to enhance decision-making, streamline operations, and improve the bottom line. Crisandra has successfully shared these strategies with entrepreneurs, startups, and consultants serving diverse clients. Leveraging this approach, her healthcare practice, Bryan R. Harrison, PhD, Psychologist PC, harnessed data science and cutting-edge AI technologies to ease the administrative burden on their mental healthcare providers.
	15 minute break
3:10PM-3:55PM	The Future Has No Managers Hernan Chiosso In the very near future, the role of "manager" as we know it will become obsolete. This isn't just speculation – we're already seeing the signs: Ind... In the very near future, the role of "manager" as we know it will become obsolete. This isn't just speculation – we're already seeing the signs: Individual contributors are out-earning their managers, AI is taking over traditional management tasks like coordination and tracking, and companies are discovering they can operate effectively with far fewer managers than before. But this isn't a story about job losses – it's about evolution. As AI handles the routine coordination that once filled managers' days, we're discovering that true leadership isn't about managing tasks at all. It's about unleashing human potential. The future organization won't be divided between managers and employees, but will be fluid, dynamic, and built around capability rather than hierarchy. The most successful leaders in this new world won't be task-masters, but enablers – part coach, part strategist, part cultural architect – whose value comes not from controlling work, but from amplifying human potential.
4:00PM-4:45PM	Towards Responsible Tech for AI Startups Valerie Carey Responsible AI development includes privacy safeguards, transparency, quality assurance, and legal compliance. Even large organizations struggle to... Responsible AI development includes privacy safeguards, transparency, quality assurance, and legal compliance. Even large organizations struggle to implement effective frameworks in a fast-changing technology landscape. Small companies and startups can feel ill-equipped to address Responsible AI questions, but such measures are often required for VC funding and growth. In addition, a lack of attention to ethical practices at the early stages can put a startup at risk or lead to intractable technical debt. In this talk, we discuss some key considerations for early-stage and small companies, and brainstorm practical measures that can help organizations grow sustainably and responsibly.
4:50PM-5:00PM	Closing Remarks Max Irwin
Evening 5PM-8PM	After Party In Collaboration with StartupGrind La Bola, 260 East Main St., Rochester, NY 14604