About us
AppliedAI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to developing the next generation of AI leaders in Minnesota. We do this through a conference, podcast, weekly news, monthly newsletters, YouTube channel, and monthly meetups. Our events provide education, hands-on training, and real-world AI applications to help people of all ages learn how to use AI to solve real-life problems.
Additionally, we encourage you to subscribe to our Conversation On Applied AI Podcast. We publish new episodes every other week on topics related to Artificial Intelligence and its applications! We also publish a Monthly Newsletter with details on our current events and ways to engage with our community.
What is Artificial Intelligence
In computer science, artificial intelligence (AI), sometimes called machine intelligence, is intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence displayed by humans. Leading AI textbooks define the field as the study of "intelligent agents": any device that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of successfully achieving its goals. Colloquially, the term "artificial intelligence" is often used to describe machines (or computers) that mimic "cognitive" functions that humans associate with the human mind, such as "learning" and "problem solving".
What is AppliedAI?
Simple. :) It's the real-world applications that these far-fetched, big ideas lead to. Some things around us that are applications of AI include digital assistants (Google Home, Alexa), self-driving cars, robots, chatbots and many many more!
Who should go AppliedAI Meetups?
This group is a place for anyone who is interesting in learning, sharing and applying Artificial Intelligence to their products and services. It's also for people of all ages just interested in what's going on in the AI space by networking and talking with real-world practitioners of this exciting and new technology.
What happens at AppliedAI Meetups?
• We have speakers and panelists talking about AI in real-world scenarios
• We do demos of AI related projects and explain how they work
• We discuss, where AI has been, where it is today and where it's heading in the future
• We have fun!
Where else can I find you?
Follow us on social media!
Facebook, LinkedIN and Twitter
We also have a podcast and YouTube page.
What are the colors of your logo?
They are derived from the color palette of a few of the first-ever AI-generated photos from Google’s Deep Learning tool.
Upcoming events
1

AI in Product Management: Building an AI Native Engineering Company
Lab651, 550 Vandalia St #231, St Paul, MN, USOverview
Most companies are figuring out how to add AI to what they already do. Blank Metal was built the other way around — AI-native from day one, with no legacy processes to protect and no slides-over-shipping culture to fight.In this talk, Elli Rader shares what it actually looks like to build a company that way: the organizational decisions, the hard lessons, and the difference between teams that ship AI to production and teams that stay stuck in pilot mode. She'll talk about what clients actually need versus what they ask for, how lean AI engineering teams outperform large consulting engagements, and what "AI-native" means in practice when you're doing real work for real organizations.
This isn't a vision talk. It's a behind-the-scenes look at building something new in a space full of noise.
Agenda
- 2:00pm - 2:30pm: Arrival and networking
- 2:30pm - 2:45pm: Announcements and round-room introductions
- 2:45pm - 3:30pm: Featured panel
- 3:30pm - 4:00pm: Your impromptu discussion topics
- 4:00pm onwards: Continued networking at Monster Brewing
Meet Our Featured Speaker
Elli Rader is the Chief Growth Officer at Blank Metal, an AI-native engineering company based in Minneapolis. She is one of the company’s co-founders, building the revenue and partnerships side of the business from scratch, which in a startup means doing a little bit of everything and figuring out a lot of it in real time.
Her background is in enterprise product strategy and development, with nearly two decades of experience working across healthcare, private equity, and education. She's spent most of that time at the edge between business and technology — helping organizations understand what they actually need, not just what sounds good in a meeting. These days, work is entirely focused on AI: where it's ready, where it isn't, and how companies can move from curiosity to something running in production.Jessica Berg is an Account Director at Blank Metal. She’s spent 15+ years in business development, client strategy, and account management in organizations of all shapes and sizes - from large, matrixed consulting firms to 5-person startups. She spent five years running the Minnesota Cup, supporting very early-stage companies and the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem before returning to professional services and tech. No matter what she's selling, she loves helping people and solving problems.
Sponsors
This event is sponsored by Lab651 & Recursive AwesomeOrganizers
This event is part of the community interest groups series at Applied AI, where community members power sessions for niche interest areas through the Applied AI platform.This event is organized and hosted by Cameron Gross, John DeBauche, and Beth-Alison Berggren.
31 attendees
Past events
225


