AI Tinkerers - Columbus May Meetup [AI Tinkerers - Columbus]
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AI Tinkerers - Columbus May Meetup

May
04
Monday
Monday, May 4th, 2026 โ€ข 5:30PM to 8PM (EDT)
Improving
330 Rush Alley, Suite 150, Columbus, OH
Directions

Event Ended

This event has already taken place.

View Demos Gallery Survey Recap
Talks: Talks include self-improving agents on local hardware, multi-agent visualization pipelines, and LLM-based virtual machine simulations and more. View Demos »

(Illustration) A Star Wars-themed digital illustration in the style of 'The Simpsons' promoting an 'AI Tinkerers Columbus' event, featuring characters in a workshop building AI 'harnesses'. Text: AI TINKERERS COLUMBUS; MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU; THE HOMEBREW COMPUTER CLUB FOR AI; JEDI TRAINING: BUILD YOUR LIGHTSABER (HARNESS); CHOOSE CORE MODEL; ADD TOOLS & CONTEXT; CONNECT & ORCHESTRATE; TEST & ITERATE; WIELD THE FORCE; IT WAS SAID THAT THE JEDI MUST BUILD THEIR OWN LIGHTSABER AS PART OF TRAINING โ€“ AND THAT SEEMS TO BE THE CASE WITH AGENT ORCHESTRATION FRAMEWORKS.; A GOOD HARNESS, YOU WILL BUILD. POWERFUL AGENTS, YOU WILL CREATE.; MY AI EXPERIMENT; BUILDING HARNESS...; STEP 1: CHOOSE MODEL; STEP 2: ADD TOOLS; STEP 3: TEST & ITERATE; RESULT: 87% MORE JEDI NEEDED; GENERATING TEXT...; A strong model you have. But a powerful harness... that makes it truly useful.; CONCLUSION: BETTER HARNESS = BETTER FORCE; TODAY'S GOALS; BUILD STUFF; BREAK STUFF; MEET PEOPLE; USE THE FORCE; LET'S TINKER!; Share What You Build; Ask Good Questions; Help Your Padawan; JEDI FUEL; DEPLOY. ITERATE. REPEAT.; AGENT HARNESS; MODEL; TOOL; MEMORY; DATA; GUARDRAILS; HARNESS PATTERNS; run_harness(); for tool in tools:; result = tool.run(); context.update(result); return response; # Use the Force (and logs); AI Detailed scene with flat colors and digital shading | Colors: #FFD90F, #4B3621, #00AEEF, #ED1C24 Note: The image is a detailed digital illustration using a specific cartoon art style (The Simpsons) to create a thematic scene.

๐Ÿค– ๐Ÿ”ฅ AI Tinkerers Columbus: Release v0.5.0 โ€” May 4th at Improving! ๐Ÿ”ฅ ๐Ÿค–

Following a packed house in March and April, the Columbus AI builder scene continues to accelerate. We are back for our May session to keep the momentum going with more technical deep dives and peer-to-peer collisions.

What to expect for the May Release:
  • Demos: No slides, no pitch decks, just raw technical demonstrations.
  • Friends: Dedicated time to connect with the engineers and researchers building the future of AI in Ohio.

Submit Your Demo Proposal Here

What is AI Tinkerers?

We maintain a strict practitioner-only bar. This community is for people actively building, shipping, and experimenting with LLMs, agentic workflows, and local model fine-tuning. If you are hacking on technical challenges and want to share your progressโ€”or your failuresโ€”this is your room.

We consistently hit capacity, so ensure you RSVP early to secure your spot among fellow builders.

(Photo) A wide-angle photograph of a large group of people attending a tech-related presentation or demonstration in a conference room. Text: [unreadable] People attending a presentation | Indoor office or conference room | Two large wall-mounted displays, a model car on a stand, and many attendees with laptops. | Candid wide-angle shot | Colors: #f2f2f2, #2b2b2b, #004a99, #d11111 Note: The image is a real-life photograph capturing a candid scene of people in an indoor professional setting.

๐Ÿ•• Schedule:

Our event will be Monday, May 4, 2026 from 5:30 PM โ€“ 8:00 PM ET at:

Improving

330 Rush Alley, Suite 150 ยท Columbus, OH

  • 5:30 PM: Doors Open & Initial Collisions
  • 6:00 PM โ€“ 6:45 PM: Curated Community Demos (5 min demo + 4 min Q&A)
  • 6:45 PM โ€“ 8:00 PM: Deep-Dive Networking & Dinner

(Photo) A group of people are gathered in a conference room for a presentation, with two large screens displaying technical content and a Debian logo. people in a meeting or presentation | indoor office or conference room | multiple attendees, presentation screens, Debian logo, laptops | candid, wide-angle | Colors: #E0E0E0, #3C3C3C, #8B0000 Note: This is a real-life photograph capturing a group of people in an indoor setting during an event.

๐ŸŽ™๏ธ DEMO SIGNUPS ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ

Demo Submission
We are looking for high-signal demos that focus on the โ€œhow.โ€ We want to see your code, your terminal, and your messy works-in-progress. This is a technical show-and-tell, not a product launch.

Pitch decks are forbidden. Whether you are solving RAG evaluation, optimizing inference, or building autonomous agents, bring the technical details.

Curious about previous talks? Read What Makes a Great Demo at AI Tinkerers.

๐Ÿค– Connect, Collaborate, and Create ๐Ÿค–

This meetup is your chance to:
  • Showcase your latest AI projects: Share your work with a room of peers who understand your stack.
  • Network with fellow tinkerers: Meet the engineers and founders building the AI ecosystem in Columbus.
  • Trade Notes: Discuss evals, context window management, and real-world agent behavior beyond the hype.

RSVP Today!

Space is limited. RSVP now to secure your spot.

Help us grow: If you are an active builder, invite one other practitioner. We build this community through word of mouth among the people doing the work.

Read more about us in the FAQ

The goal is to connect like-minded folks in the Columbus area who are actively building with LLMs and generative AI.

AI Tinkerers - San Francisco:
(Photo) A photo of an audience watching a presentation in a large, modern space. Two presenters are on a stage in front of a large screen displaying a QR code and a logo. Text: #Auth0USERS - SAN FRANCISCO people | indoor | presentation, audience, stage, screen | candid Note: The image is a real-life capture of an event, depicting people and a presentation setting. It's not a drawing, logo, or banner itself.

AI Tinkerers - Seattle:
(Photo) A photo of a large group of people sitting and standing in a room, many looking at their phones or talking to each other. people | indoor | large group, some looking at phones | candid Note: The image is a real-life captured image of people in a room, indicative of a photograph. It's not a drawing, logo, or banner.

Tinkerers - NYC:
(Photo) A group of people are sitting in chairs facing a presentation screen and two presenters. Text: How Open Source Projects Grow from 0 to 1 Million Downloads people | indoor | presentation, audience, presenters | candid Note: The image is a real-life capture of an event, depicting a presentation and an audience. This clearly falls under the category of a photograph.

AI Tinkerers - London:
(Photo) A person stands at the front of a room, speaking into a microphone to a seated audience. A screen behind the speaker displays lines of code. people | indoor | presentation, audience, screen with code | candid Note: This is a real-life captured image of a presentation, depicting people and a setting, making it a photograph.

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