The Inaugural Chicago Tinkerers AI Meetup

Chicago has a rich history of thinking big. The World’s Fair in 1893 was no exception.

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. The goal here is to connect likeminded folks in the Chicago area who are actively building a more interesting future with LLMs. We can’t let the folks in Silicon Valley have all of the fun!

Tentative Schedule

Our inaugural event will be October 4th from 5:30 to 7:30 PM in Fulton Market.

• 5:30 doors open
• 6-7 demo block
• 7:30 doors close

Confirmed Speakers

• Joe Heitzeberg (Talk Title: Claude 100k Dynamic Management; Co-Founder, Tinkerers AI, CEO Blueprint AI)
• Mark Dabler (LLMs that Read Tables; CTO legman.io)
• Jason Kappes (NLP/LLMs and Video Games; Founder Newcomer Education)
• Nicholas Mandal (AI Powered Health Optimization; Founder Iterate Health)
• Jacob Anderson (LLM Ops Workflows; CEO Brx.AI, backed by Drive Capital)
• Landon Campbell (Drive Capital, host)

Demo Submission

We are actively looking for more presenters! A presentation is about five minutes in length and demonstrates a work in progress. Pitch decks are forbidden - we want to see your messy work in progress! Please use the “Demo Submission Form” link at the top of the page to apply!

Thanks!

Thank you to Landon and Drive Capital for generously agreeing to host the event!

AI Tinkerers Chicago Stats 📊

• Members: An exclusive network of 2,167 AI professionals, this community consists of 88% machine learning specialists, 74% software engineers, and 58% cloud infrastructure experts. Notable achievements include members pioneering production-grade agentic workflows, deploying custom LLM pipelines in regulated healthcare and fintech sectors, and spin-outs securing venture backing from premier global accelerators.
• Companies Represented: Featuring tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and NVIDIA, alongside fast-growing platforms such as DoorDash, TikTok, and GitLab, and innovative startups like ElevenLabs, Pinecone, Speechify, Baseten, and HumanLayer, and more
• Demos Presented: 182 demos have been submitted and 107 have been presented. The most exciting themes have focused on agentic systems (often coordinated via tool calling and structured handoffs), robust retrieval-driven applications (including graph/vector/RAG variants), and production-minded reliability (schema enforcement, guardrails, and eval/observability loops). Technical highlights have also included multimodal pipelines (OCR, voice, image-to-structure) and cost/performance optimization for real deployment.