About us

AI Ohana: Hawaii Applied AI, Agents & Automation is a welcoming community for people who want to build and apply AI in the real world—without hype, ego, or gatekeeping (everyone is welcome).
Formerly the Hawaii Machine Learning Meetup, we’re keeping the original spirit (curiosity, learning, science) while expanding the mission: practical, business-ready AI plus frontier AI—brought to Hawaii under one ohana (also spelled ʻohana, respectfully). Think “family of builders”: friends and associates who share ideas, help each other ship, and treat people with aloha.
OUR PURPOSE
Turn modern AI into working products, automated workflows, and measurable outcomes for startups, small businesses, enterprises, and mom-and-pop shops. We’re here for responsible prosperity: real value (time saved, costs reduced, revenue grown, better decisions), with wisdom about safety, privacy, security, and human impact. Optimistic, practical, and human—no doom, no drama, no guru culture.
WHO SHOULD JOIN (AND WHY)
Join if you want to learn faster, build smarter, meet your people, and leave with actionable playbooks you can use the next day.
You belong here if you’re:
• Entrepreneurs, SaaS builders, startup founders, product makers
• Engineers, data scientists, ML/AI researchers, students, educators
• Leaders upgrading “traditional” companies with AI
• Creatives, makers, futurists who love the future (and ship things)
• Security/privacy/governance-minded folks who want AI done right
• New to AI but ready to learn (no shame, no gatekeeping)
You do NOT need a PhD (but it’s okay if you do). You do NOT need to code (but it’s considered AWESOME if you do).
WHAT WE BUILD (REAL-WORLD USE CASES)
• Automations for inbox, scheduling, research, proposals, support
• Intelligent Agent/Agentic AI for sales, ops, recruiting, compliance, finance
• Agentic workflows coordinating tools + data + tasks end-to-end
• Knowledge systems from messy docs (RAG, embeddings, evals)
• AI-native products (and new AI-native companies) → production-ready systems (reliable, monitored, secure)
In Hawaii this often shows up in tourism/hospitality, real estate, construction, healthcare, education, logistics, ocean/energy, and government/politics. If it’s AI and in Hawaii, it’s fair game for the AI Ohana to dissect it, debate it's pros and cons, and implement it or improve it.
WHAT WE EXPLORE (APPLIED + FRONTIER)
Applied AI (make it real): GenAI/LLM apps, agents, orchestration, data pipelines, MLOps/LLMOps, evaluation, deployment, reliability, and cost control—plus honest “what worked / what didn’t” (and yes—we’ll question “99.99% accuracy”).
Frontier AI (stretch your mind, stay grounded): multi-agent systems, tool use, planning/coordination, safety/alignment, governance/security, thoughtful AGI discussions, and bleeding-edge topics like Yann LeCun’s JEPA-style architectures, Autonomous Operations (“digital workforce” systems), Edge AI (on-device/on-prem intelligence), and Advanced Reasoning Models.
THE TOOLBOX (EXAMPLES WE OFTEN COVER)
We’re framework-agnostic but not atheist (otherwise there would be infinite recursion), but you’ll see tools and patterns like:
• LangChain (LangGraph/LangSmith), LlamaIndex, CrewAI
• Microsoft AutoGen / Agent Framework; OpenAI APIs + agent tooling
• OpenClaw (“only use it if you know what you are doing”) + n8n-style orchestration
• RAG stacks; vector search (pgvector / Pinecone / Weaviate); graph thinking (Neo4j)
• Open-source LLMs via Ollama/Home-grown AI Models/ LM Studio; Python/TypeScript app stacks
• FastAPI / Next.js builds; Replit for rapid prototyping
• Shipping basics: Docker, CI/CD, monitoring, guardrails; Kubernetes when needed
OUR VIBE (OHANA FIRST)
Low-stress, high-trust: absolutely no ego, no competition, no shaming. We treat one another like family— with love, kindness, care, and generosity of spirit. We share lessons, demos, and opportunities with the motto “in the AI Ohana, we are family.”
There is no hierarchical structure. It’s decentralized teams with a purpose and an overarching mission. It’s leadership through kuleana (responsibility), not King Louis XIV top-down authority.
MEMBER ROLES (FUN + FUTURISTIC)
• Cyber Surfers — all members exploring the crests and troughs of AI
• Neural Surfers — builders/regulars shipping and sharing learnings
• Quantum Wave Riders — core demos/mentors guiding and showcasing frontier builds
Want to level up? Show up, share what you’re building, help someone else, and keep the AI Ohana strong.
WHAT OUR MEETUPS LOOK LIKE
Show-and-tell demos, Automation Clinic (bring a process, leave with a workflow plan), lightning talks, founder/operator stories, hands-on workshops, and reading/research salons—plus community collaborations and job/project connections (no spam unless with musubi).
HOUSE RULES
Be kind. Share responsibly (privacy/IP/consent). No hard selling (value first). If you’re unsure, ask, there are no silly questions and it is how others learn—if you know, teach us, teach the AI Ohana.
HOW WE MEET
Regular in-person gatherings (often on Oahu) plus occasional virtual sessions so every island can ride the wave. Bring a laptop if you like—but intellectual curiosity is enough.
If you want to build the future from these beautiful islands of Hawaii—together—welcome home, welcome to the Ohana. Visit us at ai-ohana.com