Leeds Data Science Meetup

March Meetup - 'Why AI isn't taking my job' and 'Building Reliable AI Systems'

Tue, Mar 24 · 6:00 PM GMT

The Elbow Room, 64 Call Lane, Leeds, LS1 6DT, GB

Please note the change of address!

Welcome to our March 2026 meetup hosted by Parallax @ The Elbow Rooms. Please see the directions provided on this page.

We are pleased to welcome James Ridgway presenting 'Why AI isn't taking my job' and Harris Bashir on 'From Prototype to Production: Building Reliable AI Systems in the Real World'.

If you would like to volunteer as a speaker for our 2026 programme please reach out to us at lds@jumpingrivers.com.

Schedule

18:00--18:45h: Refreshments (Food served on first come first served basis)

18:45--18:50: Welcome

18:50--19:25: Speaker 1: James Ridgway (The Curve)
Why AI Isn't Taking My Job

In this talk, James will unpack a big question: Is AI coming for your job?

Short answer? No. But not for the reasons you might think.

Rather than fall into the trap of hyperbole, the topic will be approached by stepping back and asking a different question: How have the skills and resources around building software changed over time?
Whilst on the surface it may appear that AI is going to take my job, AI is just the latest in a long line of innovations that promised to “replace” developers. None of them have.

19:25--20:00: Speaker 2: Harris Bashir
From Prototype to Production: Building Reliable AI Systems in the Real World

Many AI and ML projects perform well in experiments but struggle in real production environments.

In this talk, Harris will share practical lessons from building and deploying applied AI systems across computer vision, LLMs, and reinforcement learning in real-world commercial and SME settings.

Topics will include:

• Designing scalable data and feature pipelines
• Moving from notebooks to production services
• Monitoring performance, drift, cost, and reliability
• Managing governance, explainability, and risk
• Lessons learned from real-world deployments

The focus is on real engineering trade-offs, operational challenges, and measurable business impact rather than theory, and is aimed at practitioners working with analytics, data engineering, and applied ML.

Bio 1: James Ridgway

James is CTO and founder at The Curve, and is an experienced Software Engineer and Leader of Engineering Teams. He has worked across numerous technology stacks from android development and web development through to data science analytics and building distributed platforms of microservices. His approach to engineering is quality focused, with an emphasis on consistency, best practice and technical excellence.

Bio 2: Harris Bashir

Harris Bashir is a Full-Stack Data Engineer and Applied AI Engineer specialising in building and deploying production-grade AI systems across LLMs, computer vision, and reinforcement learning. He has worked on large-scale platforms at companies including Amazon and Kidoz, and currently focuses on developing AI governance, monitoring, and optimisation tools for SMEs. Harris holds an MSc in Computer Science with Distinction and has led and delivered multiple real-world AI products used in commercial environments. He is passionate about bridging the gap between research prototypes and reliable, scalable systems in production.

News and Announcements

Have a news item or announcement you'd like to make about upcoming data events or job opportunities in Leeds? Comment below or contact us directly (lds@jumpingrivers.com) and we'll do our best to circulate this information at the end of the session.

Please contact the organisers if you would like to volunteer as a speaker for future events.