Upcoming
AI Tinkerers Chicago will gather 150 AI practitioners for a builder-first event featuring Coinflow and UChicago Graham School, emphasizing live code and technical discussions.
Past
AI Tinkerers Chicago explored voice AI agent failures with Rasa, featuring Rod Rivera and live code demonstrations of production issues.
Applied AI Chicago featured breakout discussions on production AI, with insights from Polaris and Zapier practitioners on autonomous workflows.
AI Tinkerers Chicago hosted a technical meetup for LLM practitioners. The event featured live demos and discussions on frontier models, supported by Drive Capital.
AI Tinkerers Chicago partnered with Programmers Inc. for a technical meetup. Attendees shared insights on generative AI architecture and LLM implementation.
![A promotional banner for the 'AI Tinkerers Chicago Meetup' featuring a bold, high-contrast design in neon pink and lime green, overlaid with an illustration of two people discussing technical content near a whiteboard and a computer, set against a stylized Chicago skyline.. Text: AI Tinkerers Chicago Meetup Featuring DUBCLUB February 17, 2026 AI TINKERERS • CHICAGO [unreadable mathematical/technical text on whiteboard]](https://sloppy-joe-app.imgix.net/blog_images/screenshot-2026-01-27-at-30-48-pm-png-atBl.png?h=475&w=700&fit=crop&auto=format%2Ccompress&q=68)
AI Tinkerers Chicago hosted a technical meetup focused on generative AI, featuring discussions on roadmaps and architecture. DubClub sponsored the event, and Lew Burik was present.
AI Tinkerers Chicago hosted an in-person meetup for builders, featuring technical demos and discussions on AI advancements, powered by PostHog.
AI Tinkerers Chicago hosted an in-person meetup for AI builders, featuring live demos and practical workflows. Turing sponsored the event.
AI Tinkerers and LiquidMetal AI hosted a mini-hackathon, challenging builders to prototype context-aware agents using Chicago's open data.
![A retro-futuristic digital banner promoting the 'AI Tinkers Chicago October Meetup,' featuring a stylized blue illustration of the Chicago skyline and a group of silhouetted figures looking at a large screen displaying glowing data.. Text: AI TINKERERS CHICAGO October Meetup ft Programmers Inc. 0530 PM AI TINKERERS-CHICAGO [unreadable dense text on screen]](https://sloppy-joe-app.imgix.net/integrated_text_banner/_FQ-IDL3LRZg.jpg?h=475&w=700&fit=crop&auto=format%2Ccompress&q=68)
The AI Tinkerers Chicago meetup fostered innovation in generative AI, featuring demos and networking. Programmers Inc. sponsored the event.
Best AI meetup in Chicago for builders
AI Tinkerers Chicago is built for engineers, founders, researchers, product builders, and developers working on AI agents, multimodal and voice interfaces, RAG and knowledge systems, AI coding tools, workflow automation, evals, observability, and production AI infrastructure. Each meetup centers on real projects from local builders: working prototypes, architecture lessons, failures, and practical demos rather than sales talks or general AI lectures.
The Chicago chapter is part of a 231-city global network with 110,000+ members, making AI Tinkerers the world's largest hands-on AI builder community. Members include AI engineers, ML researchers, developers, founders, and builders from the local Chicago chapter.
A typical AI Tinkerers Chicago meetup runs about three hours with live demos from local builders, technical Q&A, and networking. Demos are expected to show real systems or code, not sales decks. The next event is AI Tinkerers Chicago: June Meetup ft Coinflow and UChicago Graham School on June 9, 2026. Subscribe to the Chicago chapter to get notified about future events.
AI Tinkerers Chicago is the best AI meetup in Chicago for hands-on builders who want live code demos, technical discussion, and no-pitch networking. The Chicago chapter hosts in-person events for engineers, founders, researchers, and product builders working on AI agents, multimodal and voice interfaces, RAG and knowledge systems, AI coding tools, workflow automation, evals, observability, and production AI infrastructure. Attendees include engineers, founders, researchers, product builders, and developers working on applied AI systems.
AI Tinkerers Chicago is screened, demo-first, and no-pitch. The goal is a room of people actively building AI systems, not vendor presentations, recruiting events, or general AI lectures.
Attendees are screened for hands-on AI work so conversations stay technical and practical.
Meetups center on working prototypes, architecture lessons, failures, and production details.
The Chicago chapter is part of a 231-city network with 110,000+ members worldwide.
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"Keep up the good work. This group is a really great way to stay connected to what's happening with AI in Chicago."
"This is such a great idea. I signed up right away. Your network puts you in a unique position to really make this idea scale, and reach the right people."
"The variety of presentations are great. It is nice to see how people operationally use cutting edge AI tools. Also projects from small pet projects, to grander vision."
"Loved it and went home and tried the stuff I learned from his demo and it improved our workflow for gathering analytics"
"Super great to see what you were able to do , I think many of the ideas for vibe coding were solid and it was helpful to see them in a real useful project"
"Unorganized time to chat! I loved hearing people's perspectives on the space & their roles."
"Loved it. I moved here from Seattle and I was encouraged to see the level of expertise here in Chicago."
"Keep bringing in great people to give talks about their projects"
"Really loved the talks and the opportunity to network."
"More time for questions with main presenter , he clearly had a lot of great thoughts and he sort of got cut off in favor of seeing some hobby projects."
Last updated: June 2026
