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Where the global AI community unites to build the future.

Get ready to deepen your expertise, forge powerful connections, and stay at the absolute forefront of artificial intelligence. ODSC AI East is returning to Boston, MA at the Hynes Convention Center, April 28–30, for three days dedicated to practical, hands-on learning and community growth. And/OR you may join Virtual Conference. More details here - https://odsc.ai/east/

First Speakers Announcement

• Adam Tauman Kalai, Safety and Ethics Researcher, OpenAI
• Jonathan Frankle, Chief AI Scientist, Databricks
• Amy Hodler, Executive Director, GraphGeeks.org
• David Campbell, Head of AI Security, Scale AI
• Ben Armstrong\, PhD\, Executive Director \| Co-Lead\, Work of the Future\, MIT
• Ari Morcos, PhD, CEO and Co-founder, Datology AI
• Sydney Runkle, Software Engineer, LangChain
• Noah Giansiracusa, PhD, Assoc. Prof. of Math and DS, Bentley University
• Karen Zhou, Member of Technical Staff, Anthropic
• Joseph Fuller\, Prof. \| Co-head\, Future of Work Project\, Harvard Business School
• Denise Gosnell, Co-Founder & CEO, Data Driven Intuition
• Rajiv Shah, PhD, Chief Evangelist, Contextual AI
• Claire (Yunzhu) Zhao\, Director\, Group Lead \| AI/ML\, AQDS\, Pfizer
• David Hoyle, PhD Research Data Science Specialist, dunnhumby
• Dr. Denis Garagić, Chief Technology Officer & Co-founder, Palladyne AI
• Jeremiah Lowin, Founder & CEO, Prefect
• Veronika Durgin, VP of Data
• Xiong Liu Director, Data Science and AI, Novartis
• Mohammad Soltanieh-ha, PhD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Boston University

This is more than just a conference; it’s the essential event for data science practitioners, AI builders, technical leaders, and anyone looking to pivot into an AI-driven career. With 300+ hours of content from 250+ expert speakers, you'll gain job-ready skills and strategic insights you can implement immediately.

Why You Need to Be Here: Learning and Value

Technical Tracks: Data Engineering \| Physical AI \| AI for BioPharma & Health \| LLMs\, GenAI & RAG \| Agentic AI & Workflow Automation \| Keynotes & Industry Leadership \| Data Science & Machine Learning & MLOps \| AI Engineering & AIOps

Non-Technical Tracks: AI Strategy \| AI Risk & Governance \| Agentic AI for Enterprise \| AI Products & Innovation \| AI & Future of work \| Executive Track \| AI Founder Track

At ODSC AI East, we prioritize tangible value and immersive learning, ensuring you walk away certified and skilled. Our expansive agenda is packed with cutting-edge workshops and deep-dive tutorials across the most in-demand domains:

• Hands-On Training: Master crucial skills in LLMs, Generative AI & RAG, AI Engineering & MLOps, Data Science, and Machine Learning with expert-led, hands-on sessions.
• Focused Tracks: Explore specialized content in Agentic AI & Workflow Automation, Data Engineering, and AI for Robotics.
• Learn from Engineers Who Ship: Our speakers are the industry's top practitioners and researchers, renowned for bringing real-world innovations and strategies to the stage.

Beyond the Talks: Our Expanded Community Events

The true value of ODSC AI East is the opportunity to connect and collaborate. Your pass unlocks a rich ecosystem of co-located events and unique networking opportunities designed for every career level:

• AI X Leadership Summit (Co-located): A curated forum for executives, business leaders, and technical managers to gain practical insights on shaping, governing, and scaling their organization’s AI strategy.
• AI Mini-Bootcamp: Kickstart your journey or reinforce fundamentals with our intensive, pre-conference AI training and certification tracks.
• AI Expo & Demo Hall: Explore the latest advancements, witness live product demos, and meet technical experts from leading AI companies and innovative startups. This is the place to gain insight into build vs. buy decisions for enterprise AI solutions.
• Networking+ Activities & Events: Challenge yourself to grow your network at our dedicated events, including the Main Network Reception, targeted Lunch Meetups, and exclusive VIP Networking sessions, forging invaluable connections across the global community.

Join us in celebrating our community's pursuit of knowledge, inclusivity, and fairness as we work together to move the world of data science forward. Ready to build better AI? Find your perfect pass and secure your spot at ODSC AI East 2026 today!

Useful Links

• ​​Free access to more talks/trainings: Ai+ Training platform
• ​​ODSC blog: https://opendatascience.com/
• ​​Slack Channel: https://hubs.li/Q03SyZP80
• ​​Code of conduct: https://odsc.ai/code-of-conduct/

Most IT organizations face a constant balance between delivering approved projects (the top-of-mind, important tasks that management wants to launch) and fixing urgent problems (the ones that break systems in unexpected ways.) But there's a third bucket of issues—the long-languishing, forgotten, often boring tasks that turn into technical debt.

Take a step back from the Top Ten lists and join Saks' Veronika Durgin as she digs through the Bottom Ten: Neglected data engineering tasks that will come back to haunt you. This ""forgotten bucket"" can always be deferred, but the more you wait, the more time you'll spend on unplanned activities. And there are a variety of lenses with which you can look at it to better understand its impact on the organization, including the hidden costs of built-versus-buy, the need for a single definition of ""done"", identifying unexpected business dependencies; finding real data to conduct meaningful tests; and the environmental impact of your data.

Veronika Durgin joins me to chat about learning and adapting in a fast-changing world, handling vendors, and much more.

Veronika's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vdurgin/

If you like this show, give it a 5-star rating on your favorite podcast platform.

Purchase Fundamentals of Data Engineering at your favorite bookseller.

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